Probable swine flu case discovered in Isanti County
The swine flu may be in Isanti County.
The Minnesota Department of Health(MDH) has sent a lab sample from a sick person in Isanti County to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for definitive testing for swine flu.
MDH has labeled the case a “probable.”
The CDC testing should make clear whether the person in Isanti County, which MDH Commissioner Dr. Sanne Magnan this morning (May 1) on the Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s radio show said is recovering at home and did not need to hospitalized, indeed has the “novel” strain of swine flu or H1N1.
So far, the MDH has tested 224 samples from across the state and 30 remain to be tested, according to the MDH.
Pawlenty and health officials have indicated that it is to be expected that more swine flu cases appear in Minnesota.
Because the flu strain is novel, “by definition we don’t know much about it,” said Magnan.
She indicated that because flu viruses change over time, even someone who has contracted H1N1 would not be necessarily be immune against another flu strain.
And because the new flu strain is novel, flu shots may not prove effective.
But she cautioned against people dosing themselves with anti-viral medications as a preventative step against the swine flu.
Instead, Magnan stressed personal cleanliness, staying home if sick, and social distancing — an ill person staying at last six feet away from other people — as the best means of combating the spread of the flu.
Magnan said she has been in contact with health officials in Isanti County and that those officials are contacting local law enforcements and the schools about the case.
Although the novel flu strain likely entered the United States from Mexico, Magnan indicated that as the disease continues to spread, the importance of the link to the southwest lessens — people within the state can be spreading the flu to other people within the state with no Mexican tie at all.
Magnan explained that lots of soap and water is an effective means of killing the flu virus — there’s no need to for people to rush out and buy additional cleaning supplies, she opined.
She stressed that in washing hands people should be thorough.
One guideline is to wash through two verses of “Happy Birthday,” she said.
She also cautioned people to keep their fingers out of their eyes, nose and mouth as that’s how the disease is spread.
The MDH has started a swine flu hotline number at 1-800-657-3903.
Swine flu is not as dangerous as Dengue Fever but we should still take precautions to avoid spreading and contracting this disease.