Staff Writer
HOULTON, Maine — Swine flu. No two words have caused more concern for parents of school-age children in recent history.
To assuage parents’ concerns, an informational meeting was held Monday evening at Houlton Elementary School with health officials from the local and state level. About 40 parents attended the meeting, which featured speakers Patty Carson from Maine Center for Disease Control; Ellen Bartlett, infection preventionist from Houlton Regional Hospital; and pediatricians Dr. Matt Cowan, Dr. Rosalinda Maraya and Dr. William Byers.
According to Carson, H1N1 cases are currently declining in every region around the country, except New England. In Maine, there have been 1,315 confirmed cases of H1N1, with 52 hospitalizations and five deaths resulting from complications brought on by the flu as of last weekend.
“All of those deaths were from underlying illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease, renal failure and asthma,” she said. “Those conditions put the patient at higher risk.”
There have been confirmed cases of H1N1 in every county in Maine. Three weeks ago, there were no reported cases of H1N1 in Aroostook County. However, as of Monday, there were 13 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the region, with one hospitalization. That number continues to rise daily as more individuals are being tested.
“We think there are lot more than that in Aroostook County,” Carson said. “There are many who have had symptoms, but have not been tested. It is really striking the Northeast hard at this time.”
The Maine CDC has reported that the 2009 H1N1 flu continues to be widespread in Maine. Statewide, schools are reporting increased absenteeism due to influenza-like illness (ILI). Two schools in the southern part of the state were closed, but have since re-opened, Carson said.
“It’s estimated that world-wide, there are a million or more cases of H1N1 influenza,” Carson said.
Strep throat and influenza cases are also skyrocketing in the state.
“We are seeing phenomenal numbers of influenza-like illness in our state,” she said. “The assumption, at this time, if you have had a fever, cough and sore throat, you have influenza-like illness.”
According to Bartlett, the Houlton Regional Hospital has been planning for a pandemic since 2007 when reports of the Avian – or bird flu – first were reported.
“At that time, they were comparing it (Avian flu) to the 1918 Spanish flu,” she said. “I’m glad this (H1N1) flu is a lot less severe than what we initially prepared for.”
Should the severity of H1N1 increase, Bartlett said HRH has a plan of action in the works.
“We would have designated entrances to our facility where you would have your temperature checked,” she said. “People would then be directed to where they need to go.”
Some services, such as cardiac rehab or selective surgeries could also be postponed to free up hospital staff to treat flu patients.
“Right now, our biggest defense is vacincation for prevention,” Bartlett said. “Make sure you have a thermometer at home to monitor your child’s temperature. You should also try to separate those who are sick from those who are well.”
Alternating between acetaminophen and ibuprofen to control fever is also recommended.
According to the Maine CDC, people should assume that they will be exposed to the flu at some point, and currently with only enough vaccine for one in eight people in Maine, residents should all take precautions to prevent serious illness.
The CDC recommends the following preventative measures:
• Stay home if you are sick, until you are fever-free for a full 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medicine.
• Cough and sneeze into your elbow, or into a tissue. Throw this tissue away.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, but especially after coughing and sneezing. Alcohol-based hand gels can also be used.
• Avoid touching your nose, mouth, and eyes. Germs can spread this way.
• Avoid contact with sick people. If you are at very high risk for complications, you may want to avoid large crowds.
• When vaccine is available, get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines.
• Contact your health care provider if there are flu-like symptoms in a household where anyone is younger than 2 years of age, 65 years or older, pregnant, and/or has an underlying medical condition.
“Right now, we have not said this is a severe pandemic,” Carson said. “We are not recommending you keep your children home. We’re not at that point yet.”
Most people can stay home to recover without seeing a health care provider, but anyone with the flu should seek medical attention for: dehydration; trouble breathing; getting better, then suddenly getting a lot worse; sudden dizziness; or any major change in one’s condition or behavior.
Schools are required to report their absenteeism rates to the Maine CDC and once that rate reaches 15 percent, those schools are placed under a closer watch by the CDC.
As expected, vaccines are in short supply around the state and to accommodate that need, the Maine CDC created a prioritized list of who should be vaccinated first. The first groups targeted were children and pregnant women, because they are most affected by H1N1 infection. Currently, Maine CDC priority groups for vaccination are:
• All children 6 months to 18 years of age.
• Pregnant women.
• Caregivers and household members of infants younger than 6 months old.
• Adults 18 – 64 years of age with chronic medical conditions.
• Health care personnel with frequent direct contact with infectious materials and inpatients who are at high risk (pregnant women, children, and high-risk adults older than 65).
“It would have been nice to have enough vaccines to do a mass clinic for all the school-aged children, but it didn’t work out that way,” Bartlett said. “They [vaccinations] have been trickling in.”
By the end of the week, the Maine CDC expects about 95 percent of all K-12 schools, which is all schools that signed up to provide H1N1 vaccines, will have administered their first doses to children. The second doses for children ages nine and younger are anticipated to be distributed in the next several weeks.
One common misconception, according to Dr. Cowan, is that getting vaccinated can cause an individual to come down with the flu.
“I hear from my patients that they don’t want a flu shot, because the last time they did, they got the flu,” Dr. Cowan said. “I know you cannot get the flu from a flu shot. There are some mild side effects, that can resemble the flu, but they are much milder.”
Individuals who get vaccinated may still come down with the flu as it takes two weeks for a person’s body to build up immunities.
For more information on H1N1, visit www.flu.gov.
