TV: 'We've got a lot of work to do' expert says of swine flu
04:21 PM CDT on Monday, August 10, 2009
By AMY JOHNSTON / KVUE News
Hundreds of state and local health leaders came up with a plan for the fall flu season during a summit in Austin. By August 1, 2009, more than 5,200 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas.
KVUE's Jessica Vess reports
In April, fears of the swine flu shut down schools, even entire districts in Texas. In North Austin, the Lucy Read Pre-K Center was closed and given a deep cleaning after a child was suspected of having swine flu.
"I am glad they're taking the necessary precautions to keep the children safe," said one mom to KVUE News.
But this fall, it is unlikely that we would see such an aggressive response to a suspected swine flu case.
"The challenge we had last spring was very limited data," said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Department of State Health Services.
On Monday, at the Texas Pandemic Influenza Summit in Austin, leaders discussed what was learned during last spring's outbreak of swine flu and how to handle future outbreaks.
"On the 24th of August there's going to be 4,651,516 students coming to 8,195 campuses in 1,229 school districts across the state -- we've got a lot of work to do," said Jack Colley, chief of the Division of Emergency Management.
A lot of that work involves coordination between government agencies -- from tracking the virus as it spreads to distributing the new vaccine.
"It really hasn't developed widespread resistance. It really hasn't changed, so it's our prediction that the vaccines developed on the strains we had back in spring should be effective," said Lakey.
But experts agree it will be a tough year with a combination of the swine flu and seasonal flu. And while they don't expect to be seeing more large scale school closures, experts are again asking people to use common sense -- by washing hands and staying home if sick.
The swine flu or H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive in Texas sometime in October.
04:21 PM CDT on Monday, August 10, 2009
By AMY JOHNSTON / KVUE News
Hundreds of state and local health leaders came up with a plan for the fall flu season during a summit in Austin. By August 1, 2009, more than 5,200 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas.
KVUE's Jessica Vess reports
In April, fears of the swine flu shut down schools, even entire districts in Texas. In North Austin, the Lucy Read Pre-K Center was closed and given a deep cleaning after a child was suspected of having swine flu.
"I am glad they're taking the necessary precautions to keep the children safe," said one mom to KVUE News.
But this fall, it is unlikely that we would see such an aggressive response to a suspected swine flu case.
"The challenge we had last spring was very limited data," said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Department of State Health Services.
On Monday, at the Texas Pandemic Influenza Summit in Austin, leaders discussed what was learned during last spring's outbreak of swine flu and how to handle future outbreaks.
"On the 24th of August there's going to be 4,651,516 students coming to 8,195 campuses in 1,229 school districts across the state -- we've got a lot of work to do," said Jack Colley, chief of the Division of Emergency Management.
A lot of that work involves coordination between government agencies -- from tracking the virus as it spreads to distributing the new vaccine.
"It really hasn't developed widespread resistance. It really hasn't changed, so it's our prediction that the vaccines developed on the strains we had back in spring should be effective," said Lakey.
But experts agree it will be a tough year with a combination of the swine flu and seasonal flu. And while they don't expect to be seeing more large scale school closures, experts are again asking people to use common sense -- by washing hands and staying home if sick.
The swine flu or H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive in Texas sometime in October.