Stubborn swine flu just won't go away

An estimated 1 million people have been sickened by swine flu since the outbreak began in April, federal health officials said Friday.

And there's no sign of it slowing down, even as summer begins.

"This new infectious disease is not going away," Dr. Anne Schuchat, a director at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said during a briefing on Friday. "In the U.S., we're still experiencing a steady increase in the number of reported cases."

With the virus stubbornly refusing to fade, even at the start of summer, Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, said he expects to see a resurgence of swine flu in the fall.

Preparations are under way with clinics, pharmacies and other organizations that provide the annual flu shots in Snohomish County to meet what is expected to be greater-than-usual demand for the seasonal flu vaccine, he said.

A second type of vaccine for swine flu is now being developed and could begin arriving in October or November, Goldbaum said.

But with supplies of this shot expected to be limited, health officials are trying to determine which groups of people should be first in line to get it.

Health officials say the list may include health-care workers, pregnant women, young children and people with health conditions that could cause them to become seriously ill if they get the flu, such as lung disease or asthma.

Patients in Snohomish County continue to become sickened by the swine flu virus at a time of year when influenza usually has all but vanished.

Dr. Yuan Po-Tu, who tracks influenza issues at The Everett Clinic, said six patients tested positive for influenza at the Marysville walk-in clinic on Thursday.

"That's a very high number of flu cases, especially in the middle of the summer," he said. "Normally, we see zero."

Physicians and public health officials had hoped to see the number of influenza cases decline once schools closed for the summer, but that hasn't happened.

About 20 percent of all patients being tested for influenza have the virus, Tu said. "I am very, very surprised this has not tapered off."

Nationally, more than 3,000 people have been hospitalized with swine flu, sometimes called h1n1 influenza.

This new type of flu continues to hit younger people the hardest, especially those under 25, Schuchat said. The median age of people hospitalized with the virus is 19.

In Snohomish County, nine people have been hospitalized from swine flu, Goldbaum said.

The virus has killed 127 people nationally, including three in Washington. One of these was a 39-year-old man from Snohomish County who had heart problems and viral pneumonia when he died in May.

Earlier this month there were two more deaths, a woman in her 20s from Pierce County and a man in his 70s from Seattle.

Because younger people are being hit hardest by the virus, health officials are urging parents to carefully check their children for fever and other flu symptoms before sending them off to summer camps.

Thirty-four outbreaks have been documented at summer camps in 16 states, Schuchat said.

Although no outbreaks have been reported at camps in Snohomish County, parents should be prepared in case their children do become ill, Tu said.

If children have a fever and a sore throat or cough, especially if the symptoms last more than to two days, they probably have influenza, Tu said.

Children should stay home for seven days and be fever-free for 24 hours before resuming normal activities, he said.

Health officials will continue to monitor swine flu as the opening of school approaches, looking for signs that it is spreading faster or causing more people to become more ill or die, Goldbaum said.

So far, there's no reason to change current policies, which call for schools to be closed only when a significant number of students or staff become ill, he said.

"But stay tuned," Goldbaum said. "We need to pay attention to what happens in the community."

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com