Kansas leaders holding summit on swine flu

[Pathfinder]

Kansas leaders holding summit on swine flu
8/24/2009, 10:47 a.m. CDT
The Associated Press

(AP) ? TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas government, emergency management and health officials are continuing their discussions and planning for the next round of swine flu in the state.

Leaders are holding a summit Monday afternoon in Topeka on the virus. The governor, health director and adjutant general have scheduled a news conference ahead of the afternoon meetings.

The invitation-only meeting will also be broadcast to six locations statewide.

The H1N1 virus already has been confirmed in 49 of 105 Kansas counties, including one death.

Worldwide, the virus has killed 1,400 people since being discovered earlier this year. Some health officials estimate up to 40 percent of the world's population could catch the virus within the next two years.


http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-51/1251127733283160.xml&storylist=health

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Kansas leaders holding summit on swine flu

State & Local Leaders Meet to Discuss H1N1 Flu

(WICHITA, Kan.)

Just as the news from KU comes out, local leaders from across Kansas meet to discuss the H1N1 Flu. Despite the timing, officials say this meeting was planned well in advance of Monday. However, this is good timing, as students go back to school and are once again in close quarters. The average age for a swine flu patient is 17 years old.

Six different meetings throughout the state (Concordia, Garden City, Hays, Kansas City, Salina, and Wichita) allowed employees from several different agencies - from health departments to law enforcement - to learn how prepared the state is for this flu season.

About 120 people from across South Central Kansas filled Wichita State's Metroplex to watch a teleconference from Topeka Monday. This is the first chance many learned answers to some of their questions.

Former Kansas Governor and current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said a vaccine should be available by mid-October.

One-percent of those vaccines will come to Kansas, at first. Those vaccinations will go to people in priority groups - pregnant women, people who care for children 6 months and younger, health care and emergency workers, anyone who is between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old, and anyone younger than 65 who is chronically ill.

The state says not having the vaccine could mean 20%-40% of Kansas could get sick and that's more than 1,000,000 people.

The state says other countries with H1N1 outbreaks dealt with a peak absenteeism at 10-15% of the work force. The normal flu takes away about 20-30% of the work force in a given year. Butler County Emergency Services Director Bill Guy said he expects a double-whammy of flu sickness, and is planning for 35% of the workforce to be sick at any given time.

In the last four months, the swine flu killed about 18 hundred people worldwide.

Compare that to the about 36 thousand people who died during last year's flu season.

The Bird Flu has killed about 300 people worldwide since 2003.

The Earth's population currently sits about 6 billion people.

Health officials say they don't want to alarm people -- but they do want to inform people.

"That is always the challenge of risk communication: is panicking, scaring - no," said Cindy Burbach of the Sedgwick County Health Department. "But getting people alert, so hopefully we're trying to meet in the middle somewhere, with the facts."

People in Monday's meeting continue to stress this is an ongoing challenge.

The things people were asked to do 3 months ago -- for example, close school -- no longer apply. Officials learned closing school only disrupted schedules, and the children still passed the virus between them because they would congregate outside of school.

Any of the precautions you'd take during the flu season *do apply. That means washing your hands with soap and water (The state says alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used if soap and water aren't available.). When you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth with a kleenex or your sleeve (the "dracula cover", according to State Health Officer Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips).

If you do get sick with the swine flu, do what you would do if you had the seasonal flu. Stay home, drink plenty of liquids, and take medicines a doctor prescribes.

Sebelius asks people who believe they have the flu to stay home, and not inundate local hospitals. She says the "worried well" will overwhelm hospitals and prevent them from giving full care to the truly sick.


http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=10982954