DELAND -- Currently there are no confirmed cases in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health and a press release issued by Volusia County Health officials.
The Department of Health continues enhanced surveillance and outreach to physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals. The surveillance system, which is fully operational, consists of sentinel physicians reporting influenza activity, DOH laboratories receiving specimens from physicians and hospitals, and the health department's ability to monitor emergency room cases and over-the-counter drug sales. The DOH has activated its response plan and is ready to respond to any cases of swine flu if they occur.
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions. Influenza A (H1N1) viruses (swine flu) are not transmitted by food and a person cannot get the virus from eating pork products.
There are no confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1), or swine flu, in Florida. Rumors of a confirmed case of swine flu in Florida are not correct.
Samples are being received by Florida Department of Health Laboratories for analysis from physicians and hospitals across the state.
Department of Health continues providers who send selected samples of laboratory specimens to state laboratories for testing if they have patients with influenza-like illness (ILI). These physicians also continue to report weekly ILI cases to the Department of Health.
Florida is coordinating the receipt of anti-virals from federal authorities and has a half-million individual courses of anti-virals prepositioned at strategic locations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 91 confirmed cases of novel influenza in the United States, with one death in a 23-month-old child.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director-general raised the level of influenza pandemic alert to Phase 5. The declaration of a Phase 5 is a strong signal that the pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.
The state surgeon general provided these recommendations:
* People with respiratory illness should stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.
* Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.
* Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
* Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.
People experiencing cough, fever and fatigue, possibly along with diarrhea and vomiting, should contact their physician.
If you think you have influenza, please call your health care provider and discuss whether you need to be seen in their office, emergency department or stay home.
For more information, please visit www.volusiahealth.com or www.cdc.gov. You also may call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at (800) CDC-INFO.