Tweet
Published: September 11, 2009 11:16 am
Health chief urges prevention as H1N1 swine flu threat looms
By James Beaty
Senior Editor
The director of the Oklahoma State Department of Health says people in the McAlester area are right to be concerned about the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus.
Dr. Terry Cline, who is also the director of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, traveled to McAlester for a meeting that the state health board held on Thursday at the Pittsburg County Health Department.
Told that people in the McAlester area are concerned about an outbreak of the swine flu virus at McAlester High School, Cline said, ?It?s good that people should be concerned.?
?The thing that you can do, and I can do, is focus on prevention,? he said.
?This isn?t the time for people to be noble and say ?I?ve got to come to work today,?? Cline said, referring to those with flu-like symptoms.
?The virus is here and it?s spreading,? he said, speaking of the state as a whole.
At McAlester High School, 128 students were absent on Thursday, said McAlester Public Schools Superintendent Tom Condit.
?Of those, 88 had flu-like symptoms,? he said. The middle school had been affected to a lesser extent and elementary school absences were about normal.
Although the state health department is no longer testing cultures for the swine flu virus, the department is still getting information from hospitals, individual physicians and from schools.
?We know from our reports from schools we?re in the ramp-up stage,? Cline said.
While public health officials are used to dealing with the seasonal flu, the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus is different, he noted.
?To be here at the beginning of the school year is very unusual,? Cline said.
?That?s one of the things that makes H1N1 of so much concern to us.?
Cline said it now looks like it will be late September or early October before a vaccination for the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus becomes available. Health officials have already noted that it will likely be available at first only to those who are considered high-risk, including young children and those with underlying medical conditions.
?That?s why we?re focusing so much on prevention,? Cline said.
Does the state health department have any prediction of how widespread swine flu may become throughout Oklahoma?
?We really don?t know,? said Cline. ?Our concern is seeing the H1N1 this time of year. It?s hitting different vulnerable populations.?
One of those groups being struck by the swine flu is young adults. They are not typically a group that?s most vulnerable to the seasonal flu ?another thing that makes the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus unusual.
?We?re learning on an almost day-by-day basis,? Cline said.
Cline started serving as the new health department director in July, after previously serving in Iraq as the attach? to the U.S. government, helping set up a renewed health care system in the war-torn nation.
The McAlester meeting gave state board members a chance to tour the new Pittsburg County Health Department, as well as an opportunity to hold a meeting in a rural part of the state.
Health chief urges prevention as H1N1 swine flu threat looms
By James Beaty
Senior Editor
The director of the Oklahoma State Department of Health says people in the McAlester area are right to be concerned about the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus.
Dr. Terry Cline, who is also the director of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, traveled to McAlester for a meeting that the state health board held on Thursday at the Pittsburg County Health Department.
Told that people in the McAlester area are concerned about an outbreak of the swine flu virus at McAlester High School, Cline said, ?It?s good that people should be concerned.?
?The thing that you can do, and I can do, is focus on prevention,? he said.
?This isn?t the time for people to be noble and say ?I?ve got to come to work today,?? Cline said, referring to those with flu-like symptoms.
?The virus is here and it?s spreading,? he said, speaking of the state as a whole.
At McAlester High School, 128 students were absent on Thursday, said McAlester Public Schools Superintendent Tom Condit.
?Of those, 88 had flu-like symptoms,? he said. The middle school had been affected to a lesser extent and elementary school absences were about normal.
Although the state health department is no longer testing cultures for the swine flu virus, the department is still getting information from hospitals, individual physicians and from schools.
?We know from our reports from schools we?re in the ramp-up stage,? Cline said.
While public health officials are used to dealing with the seasonal flu, the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus is different, he noted.
?To be here at the beginning of the school year is very unusual,? Cline said.
?That?s one of the things that makes H1N1 of so much concern to us.?
Cline said it now looks like it will be late September or early October before a vaccination for the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus becomes available. Health officials have already noted that it will likely be available at first only to those who are considered high-risk, including young children and those with underlying medical conditions.
?That?s why we?re focusing so much on prevention,? Cline said.
Does the state health department have any prediction of how widespread swine flu may become throughout Oklahoma?
?We really don?t know,? said Cline. ?Our concern is seeing the H1N1 this time of year. It?s hitting different vulnerable populations.?
One of those groups being struck by the swine flu is young adults. They are not typically a group that?s most vulnerable to the seasonal flu ?another thing that makes the H1N1 Influenza A swine flu virus unusual.
?We?re learning on an almost day-by-day basis,? Cline said.
Cline started serving as the new health department director in July, after previously serving in Iraq as the attach? to the U.S. government, helping set up a renewed health care system in the war-torn nation.
The McAlester meeting gave state board members a chance to tour the new Pittsburg County Health Department, as well as an opportunity to hold a meeting in a rural part of the state.
