Since June, 180 people have been diagnosed at Howard County General Hospital with probable swine flu.

Within days, they've all recovered. Few, if any, needed to spend even a night at the hospital.

"We've really had mild cases," said Sharon Sopp, spokeswoman for Howard County General. "Virtually all of them were treated and released in the emergency department."

Indeed, the once-feared swine flu is undergoing a bit of a public defanging. Though it was once thought to be a cause for great alarm, health officials now concede the H1N1 virus -- or so-called swine flu -- probably shares more in common with Wilbur, the mild-mannered pig from "Charlotte's Web," than Napoleon, the insidious villain of "Animal Farm."

Howard County's health officer, Dr. Peter Beilenson, delivered just that message this week at a town hall meeting about the flu.

"You are very, very lucky to have H1N1 and not the seasonal flu," he told about 75 people at Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville, Sept. 14.

Beilenson, who described the H1N1 virus as "quite mild," told residents that he believes he had the virus this summer, as did one of his children. He said their symptoms lasted about five days.

About 36,000 people die annually in the United States from the regular seasonal flu, which usually strikes in the fall and winter. Swine flu has caused about 550 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and most of those deaths struck people who had underlying neurological conditions, such as cerebral palsy or epilepsy.

In fact, nearly everyone who has caught a case of the flu this month has had swine flu, according to the federal government, which estimates 98 percent of the nation's flu cases are now the H1N1 virus.

Doctors usually diagnose the difference between the H1N1 virus and the seasonal flu by taking a swab from the patient's mouth.

'Less severe than regular flu'

Mary Wallace, manager of Infection Control and Prevention at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, says the Baltimore County hospital's experience has been similar to Howard's -- few, if any, cases that require an overnight stay at the hospital.

"It's basically the same symptoms as the seasonal flu, but it seems to be less severe than the regular flu," she said.

Even so, some area residents are concerned that the H1N1 vaccine won't be available until October, Wallace said.

"We have a lot of people waiting for the vaccine and asking for the vaccine," she said.

Wallace said she worried that patients suffering from the swine flu could multiply around the time that seasonal flu hits, causing a strain on resources.

"The CDC is expecting things to get larger and bigger, but right now we don't know," she said.

In August, the White House released a report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology that included a "planning scenario" in which half of the U.S. population was predicted to catch the H1N1 virus this year, with 90,000 dying.

The report emphasized that large number of deaths was "a planning scenario, not a prediction."

Beilenson said the virus "spreads much more commonly in close confines" such as college dorm rooms and locker rooms, and that the University of Maryland has seen a "significant number of cases." That university has reported more than 400 cases of students sick with the H1N1 flu.

"You should stay home if you're sick," Beilenson said. "Stay home until you've been fever free for 24 hours."

Howard Community College has had no cases of the H1N1 flu, according to Nancy Gainer, a college spokeswoman.

Nevertheless, HCC officials say they're taking proactive measures to combat the flu, such as launching a Web site with advice and information, holding annual seasonal flu inoculations in September and October, and working with the county health department to hold a clinic for 19- to 25-year-old students to receive the H1N1 vaccine.

Vaccines expected next month

Howard County expects to start receiving vaccines for the H1N1 virus in early October and will begin distributing them to doctors to give patients in a priority order.

The first to receive the shots, which contain a "killed virus," will be, in order:

* emergency medical and health care workers;

* pregnant women;

* caretakers of children under six months of age;

* children and young adults between six months and 24 years old.

Elderly residents are not a priority to receive the shots for the H1N1 virus, because, unlike with some illnesses, they are not at a high risk of contracting the H1N1 virus, the health officer said.

"(People) over 65 are much less likely to get the condition," Beilenson said. "Generally, it doesn't affect older people."

The vaccination is only one shot and not two, as some health experts suggested, he said.

Doctors are recommending that everyone should eventually get the vaccines for both the swine flu and seasonal flu.

Beilenson said he and schools superintendent Sydney Cousin agree that there is no need to close any public schools because of the virus "unless there is very widespread absenteeism."

County Executive Kenneth Ulman, who called this week's town hall meeting to address questions about the flu, said the first e-mail he got about the H1N1 virus was "eerily similar" to the practice runs the county has done dealing with the pandemic flu. Every year, the county government practices its responses to a large outbreak of flu.

"Your county government has been working hard to plan for just this scenario for years," Ulman said. "We have the largest drive-through flu clinic that any jurisdiction has in the country."

The county executive also had some simple advice for anyone concerned with getting the virus: "The most important thing is to wash your hands."

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user comments (1)

user belovedcartoonmouse says...

With Swine Flu, SARS, the Avian Flu and the West Nile Virus, I don't have enough time in the day to overreact.

Posted 4:08 PM, 09.17.09 | Permalink