Jefferson Co. Commission gets flu update

April 30, 2009|By RICHARD F. BELISLE

More information is available at:

owww.cdc.gov/swineflu

owww.heraldtimesonline.com/htoxtras/swineflu.php

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- When a person sneezes, the pressure spews out about 40,000 droplets at 95 mph, Amy Jones, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Health Department, told the Jefferson County Commission Thursday morning.

If the person sneezing has swine flu, the germs in the droplets can live up to 48 hours, enough time that they can infect anyone who comes in contact with them.

"There's no way to keep from getting it (swine flu) in West Virginia, if it isn't already here," Jones said.

A regular annual flu shot offers no protection for swine flu, Jones said. For now, the only way to protect oneself is to wash hands frequently throughout the day or keep from kissing or otherwise coming in close contact with an infected person, said Dr. Robert Johnson, chairman of the health department's board of directors.

Swine flu has symptoms similar to regular flu -- coughing, sneezing, all-over aches and high temperatures. Drugs such as Tamiflu are recommended for treatment to lessen the effect of the infection, but it has to be taken within 48 hours of becoming ill, Jones said. The flu could turn into pneumonia if left untreated, she said.

There's no shortage of the drug at the moment, Jones said.

Jones said while area physicians and clinics know how to treat the infection, if there is an epidemic in the county and usual sources for treatment are overwhelmed, "only the health department could medicate all 50,000 (Jefferson County residents) in 48 hours," she said.

That would be a worst-case scenario, Jones said.

"Right now, we're just doing everything that the state (health department) tells us to do," she said.

The local health department would prepare for the worst by setting up emergency clinics in three unnamed Jefferson County school buildings if the need arises, Jones said.

The commission seemed pleased that information needed by county residents on swine flu would come from area news organizations and local Web sites.

Commissioner Patsy Noland said citizens "would feel more comfortable if the information comes locally."

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