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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > RAPID SPREAD OF SWINE FLU PUTS MARIN ON HIGH ALERT
Article published - April 27, 2009
Credit: CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Rapid spread of swine flu puts Marin health officials on high alert
By Richard Halstead
No cases of swine flu have been identified so far in Marin County, but health officials expect that to change.
"We're anticipating that we will find some cases in Marin," said Dr. Anju Goel, deputy public health officer for Marin County. "It's spreading so, so rapidly. When we started the day (Monday) we had about 20 cases across the United States and now we have about 40 cases."
Goel said the Centers for Disease Control suspects this new strain of influenza is already quite widespread. On a more optimistic note, Goel said that so far, few of the swine flu cases reported in California have been severe and no one outside of Mexico has died as a result of the disease.
But local health officials are taking no chances. The county's Division of Public Health has set up a command center for swine flu epidemic operations in county health department offices at 899 Northgate Drive in San Rafael.
"We're getting the groundwork laid through this command center," Goel said.
Two antiviral drugs, oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, and zanamivir, sold under the brand name Relenza, seem to be effective in treating the new strain of flu. In 2005, when concern was running high regarding the potential for bird flu to become extremely contagious, the county of Marin spent $59,000 to purchase 1,000 doses of Tamiflu.
Since then, Goel said the county has purchased more Tamiflu. She said she didn't know how much. The county's cache is reserved for Marin doctors, nurses and other first responders, Goel said.
"We're not anticipating a shortage of Tamiflu," Goel said. "The state has millions of doses of it that they're going to be distributing to each county, and the federal government is also distributing over a million doses to California. We're not advising that anybody stockpile it."
John Shen, executive director of Marin Community Clinics, which operates the county's largest low-cost medical clinic in San Rafael's predominately Hispanic Canal neighborhood, said, "We have not seen an influx of patients. This morning we actually had people canceling appointments because they don't want to be exposed to any contaminants."
Marin Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke said she had discussed with county Public Health Officer Dr. Fred Schwartz the possibility that some schools might have to be closed. Burke said health officials were keeping a close watch on school attendance records since students returned from spring break on April 20.
"A lot of people go to Mexico over spring break," Burke said.
The flu season in Marin, which was winding down, has been light, Goel said. Public health officials gauge the number of flu cases by having a certain number of "sentinel" health care providers who test any patient who displays flu symptoms: fever, sore throat, cough accompanied sometimes by vomiting and diarrhea. Sixteen people have tested positive for influenza A this season. Schwartz has estimated, however, that the percentage of Marin's population that contracts milder strains of flu each year hovers between 25 and 35 percent.
Goel said because of the swine flu outbreak the Public Health Division has beefed up the number of health care providers doing tests. Also, Shen said his clinic has ordered more swabs to collect samples.
Goel said her division's Marin lab can identify probable swine flu cases but confirmation must be made by sending the samples to the state's lab in Richmond, which is being authorized Tuesday to confirm swine flu cases. Previously, all samples had to be sent to a federal lab in Atlanta, Ga.
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