Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=245847
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Iowa: State no longer tracking individual H1N1 flu cases
BY LUKE MEREDITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LISTEN NOW
DES MOINES -- The Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday it will no longer track individual H1N1 flu cases, which will instead be combined with regular seasonal flu data.
Department of Public Health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said the move is related to the expiration of the state's public health disaster declaration on May 29 and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors were required to report cases of H1N1 flu to the Department of Public Health while the declaration was in effect. Cases will now be tracked at the county level rather than the Department of Public Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner said that there's still a lot of work left in examining H1N1 flu and in preparing for the upcoming U.S. flu season, which typically runs from October through April.
But Skinner said it's no longer necessary to track H1N1 flu cases as extensively as when the outbreak began and officials were trying to learn as much as possible about the illness.
Though this move could be seen as a sign that the H1N1 flu outbreak is grinding to a halt, Carver-Kimm said people need to understand that the disease hasn't disappeared.
"Even though our tracking mechanism has been downgraded, or being done in a different way, it doesn't mean that we aren't still following this on encouraging Iowans to take all those health precautions because it's still out there. People can still become ill," Carver-Kimm said.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Iowa: State no longer tracking individual H1N1 flu cases
BY LUKE MEREDITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LISTEN NOW
DES MOINES -- The Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday it will no longer track individual H1N1 flu cases, which will instead be combined with regular seasonal flu data.
Department of Public Health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said the move is related to the expiration of the state's public health disaster declaration on May 29 and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors were required to report cases of H1N1 flu to the Department of Public Health while the declaration was in effect. Cases will now be tracked at the county level rather than the Department of Public Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner said that there's still a lot of work left in examining H1N1 flu and in preparing for the upcoming U.S. flu season, which typically runs from October through April.
But Skinner said it's no longer necessary to track H1N1 flu cases as extensively as when the outbreak began and officials were trying to learn as much as possible about the illness.
Though this move could be seen as a sign that the H1N1 flu outbreak is grinding to a halt, Carver-Kimm said people need to understand that the disease hasn't disappeared.
"Even though our tracking mechanism has been downgraded, or being done in a different way, it doesn't mean that we aren't still following this on encouraging Iowans to take all those health precautions because it's still out there. People can still become ill," Carver-Kimm said.