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Cases of H1N1 flu have mounted as public concern has begun to wane.
Sixty-five of Nebraska's 213 confirmed cases, or 30 percent, have been reported within the past two weeks, which means the flu outbreak is nowhere near dying out at a time of year when the common seasonal flu has disappeared.
Physicians and public health experts say the H1N1 flu is persistent. They have encouraged Americans to stay calm but remain on top of developments. The virus has unique characteristics, and what it does next is unpredictable.
Although the virus in most cases has made people only mildly or moderately sick, experts wonder whether it will mutate into a more tenacious virus. President Barack Obama last week said vaccinations probably will be ready in the fall.
Dr. Archana Chatterjee, professor of pediatrics at the Creighton University School of Medicine, cautioned against complacency. “This is a potentially serious threat,” she said.
Besides persisting into summer, the H1N1 strain is unusual, Chatterjee and others said, for frequently striking young adults. Seasonal flu is more prevalent in children and the elderly.
“There are reasons to be concerned but not alarmed,” said Thomas Newton, director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. “The federal level is taking this very seriously.”
The World Health Organization last month officially called the situation a global pandemic, reflecting how widespread it is.
The U.S. death toll from the virus, also known as swine flu, was 211 as of Friday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Complications from seasonal flu kill about 36,000 Americans a year. Iowa has reported 155 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu. There have been no deaths in Iowa or Nebraska.
More than 37,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu have been reported in the United States. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday that the number of Americans who actually have contracted the H1N1 flu is probably one million.
Karla LeMaster's experience with the virus suggests that, for a time, at least, some overreacted to the outbreak. Even after she was cleared and no longer contagious in early June, she said, some friends and acquaintances avoided her.
She enlarged to poster size her physician's note saying she was no longer contagious and put the note on the door to her office at a local land-development office. “People were scared,” she said.
Dr. Adi Pour, director of the Douglas County Health Department, said it took less than six weeks for the flu to circle the globe. “To me, one of the most interesting lessons we've learned is what a small world we have become,” Pour said.
Pour said her agency also has learned that it needs to make an effort to reach certain communities within the community, such as Sudanese residents, who may not receive information through conventional media.
The Health Department intends to offer flu information through the International Center of the Heartland at 42nd and Center Streets, among other sources.
Dr. Steven Hinrichs, director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory, said his lab this summer is testing to find which medications appear to work against the flu and which ones don't. He also is the University of Nebraska Medical Center's chairman of pathology and microbiology.
Asked what the flu's persistence indicates about the virus, Hinrichs said: “There's nothing I can speculate on at the moment, because we just don't know what it means.”
Meanwhile, Pour and other health officials wonder what twist H1N1 might make in the weeks to come.
“It is one of the unknowns,” Pour said. “Is there going to be a second wave? And is the second wave going to be more severe?”
Contact the writer:
444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com
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