Dr. Smith: Swine flu no cause for panic

Prevention tips The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers the following tips to prevent people from contracting swine flu: Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners also are effective. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. If you get sick, the CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

When it comes to swine flu, there is no need to panic.

That was the word Monday from Phil Smith, M.D., chief of the section of infectious diseases at UNMC and medical director for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

While this particular strain of swine flu has the potential to spark the next influenza pandemic — meaning it could infect millions around the world — that news is likely not as dire as it seems, Dr. Smith said.

Two facts, he said, should serve as reassurance for those following the headlines:

• Common flu remedies Tamiflu and Relenza have proven effective in treating this strain of flu; and
  
• All of the U.S. cases of swine flu so far have recovered.

“To this point, here in the U.S., swine flu is acting the same as seasonal flu,” Dr. Smith said. “The situation requires monitoring and attention but panic and fear are not needed.”

He noted that those who have come down with swine flu in the United States have experienced symptoms commonly associated with the flu — chills, aches and fever — but have recovered somewhat quickly.

Our plan UNMC, UNMC Physicians and The Nebraska Medical Center have a comprehensive pandemic response plan that addresses issues at every operational level of the campus. The plan was reviewed Monday by organization leaders and will be activated if and when the first case of swine flu is confirmed in the community.

“Had these people not been tested in light of the flu activity in Mexico, we may have never known they had swine flu,” he said.

In Mexico, where thousands of swine flu cases have been reported and more than 100 deaths have been attributed to the disease, many of those who sought help for the illness within 48 hours recovered after being treated with the remedies mentioned above.

Another fact also should help alleviate fears, Dr. Smith said, and that is that recent worldwide preparation for a potential avian flu pandemic have left the health care community in a strong position to confront a pandemic.

Stockpiles of flu treatments are available at many hospitals and care centers and many organizations, including UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have well-established plans as to how they would handle a potential pandemic.

This strain of swine flu does present a challenge to health professionals because there is no immunization and it seems to be transmittable among humans by sneezes and coughs.

See the side bar above for tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers several tips on how to prevent contraction of swine flu.

Dr. Smith said those who come down with flu symptoms should treat it as they do a normal flu — meaning they should rest and closely monitor their situations and contact their physicians should the illness persist or worsen after a couple days.

Dr. Smith suggested that those who become ill avoid contact with others as much as possible and that individual families designate a caretaker to tend to one who is ill.

While panic is not warranted at this point, Dr. Smith said people may want to stockpile water, food and other items in preparation for a potential pandemic, which could make accessing needed items difficult. Click here to see a disaster preparation guide that UNMC designed to confront pandemic and other events.

Click here for more information about swine flu.