The state of Minnesota and Polk County will undoubtedly get a chunk of the 7.7 billion federal dollars earmarked for pandemic planning in relation to the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, Polk County Public Health Director Sheri Altepeter told the county commissioners Tuesday.
The funding will cover such things as expanding vaccine production; providing more anti-viral medications, respirators and personal protective equipment; research and development for testing; state and local infrastructure; and the Centers for Disease Control disease detection program.
“We don’t know yet what will come down to us, but a lot of work needs to be done this summer,” she said.
In the coming months, PCPH staff will be drawing up a plan to distribute vaccinations in the fall, not only for seasonal influenza like it does every year but also for the H1N1 virus. The H1N1 vaccination, Altepeter explained, involves two doses given a month apart. So more detailed record keeping will be necessary to keep track of who got the vaccine and when the second dose is due.
“From what I understand, we will be getting weekly shipments of the vaccine, beginning in September, for many weeks,” she said. “I’ve heard it could be anywhere from 15-51 weeks.”
Prioritization of distribution tiers for the vaccine will be followed, she added, with health care workers getting them first, followed by other emergency and community personnel, then people with risk factors such as health conditions, pregnancy and age, and finally healthy adults.
PCPH is also working with area hospitals and clinics to establish flu centers to be implemented once the pandemic hits the county, as it’s expected to do this fall, said Altepeter. In contrast to flu shot clinics, these centers, which will likely be located in Crookston, East Grand Forks and McIntosh, would emphasize treatment, not prevention, of the flu.
“This would be a place for assessment, treatment and triage for flu sufferers, a place away from clinics and hospitals to take the strain off them,” she explained. “If a lot of people are sick with the flu, we don’t want them to go there, as there are a lot of other sicknesses they have to deal with.”
At these flu centers, patients could be diagnosed with the flu, provided with anti-viral medications and educated on how to treat it at home, she said. They would not stay there, although severe cases may require hospitalization somewhere.
The flu centers would be open for as long as the flu wave lasts, said Altepeter, projected at six to eight weeks.
“We will keep the public informed once we know more about the immunizations and flu centers,” she said. “It’s important that people know what’s going on.”
Pandemic proportions
Flu pandemics typically involve three waves that hit about six months apart and last several weeks, said Altepeter. The World Health Organization has classified H1N1 as a pandemic, with the first wave hitting in April. The second wave is expected to start in October.
“History tells us the second wave is the worst of the three,” she said. “WHO and the CDC are closely watching the Southern Hemisphere, as it’s winter there now and flu season. Flu viruses always changing and mutating, so they’re seeing how it’s going to determine how to proceed in the future.”
Altepeter said the H1N1 strain appears to be even more contagious than the highly contagious seasonal flu variety, although most people, so far, have been able to recover well from it at home. It also, fortunately, has not been very deadly yet, although there are concerns that could change with the second wave.
She gave the most recent H1N1 statistics, as of Tuesday: 611 Minnesota cases, four of them in northwest Minnesota, with one death; 33,902 in the United States with 170 deaths; and 94,512 worldwide in some 120 countries, with 429 deaths. She stressed that these are only the confirmed cases – there are likely many more unreported and/or undiagnosed.
Minnesota now has the capability to do its own testing for the virus at a lab in St. Paul. Previously, suspected specimens had to be shipped of to the CDC lab in Atlanta, Ga. However, only health-care workers and hospitalized patients with the flu are currently being tested, said Altepeter.
“If you have the flu now, we can pretty much assume it’s the H1N1 strain because flu season is done here,” she said.
She pointed out that people who have flu symptoms such as fever, fatigue, aches, cough and sore throat need to stay home for at least a week and call their doctor, who might prescribe an anti-viral medication to lessen the severity. Flu sufferers are contagious for 24 hours prior to feeling symptoms and for at least seven days once they materialize. Anti-virals work best if started within 48 hours of being infected.
“We don’t expect this to reach the proportions of the 1918 flu pandemic,” Altepeter said, referring to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 that killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide. “But the effects could still be devastating to communities, so we’re keeping a very close eye on the situation.”
Crookston —
