State preparing for swine flu

FRANKFORT – Kentucky joined the rest of the nation in addressing concerns about the more than 60 Americans infected with swine flu during a media conference in Frankfort Monday afternoon.

Dr. William Hacker, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, spoke to reporters at the department’s emergency operations center, saying the situation was an “evolving” one.

“The situation is evolving and we’re in the early stage of this investigation,” Hacker said. “Those who have died in Mexico raise concerns, certainly. We’re not clear about whether ours is less severe or if we haven’t identified the more severe cases.”

Still, Hacker said there was no real cause for alarm at this point.

“I would be concerned, but not panicked,” he said.

The number of people who have died from the strain of swine flu in Mexico since April 13 was 149 as of Tuesday afternoon.

But, as Hacker said during the media conference, Mexico has a six-week head start on the U.S.

In the meantime, officials are saying that “common sense” approaches to safeguard against becoming infected are the best method at this time.

“Use common sense,” said Hacker. “It’s appropriate to take precautionary steps and wash your hands, cover your cough and practice good hygiene.”

There are currently researchers working to develop a vaccine for the new strain, said Hacker. That vaccine would be several months in the making, he added.

“We don’t know where this virus came from,” he said. “This is a new combination we have not seen before, but it’s not like this has never happened before.”

Currently, Hacker and his staff have been stockpiling backup medicine to treat against the virus. The federal government has been releasing supplies, of which Kentucky has received enough to treat a little over 100,000 people.

“Flu virus has a tendency to evolve and is highly unpredictable,” Hacker said Tuesday. “We don’t want to get caught unprepared if it does become a bigger threat because changes will be taking place on a daily basis.”

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were a total of 64 verified cases in the U.S. as of Tuesday afternoon.

The highest number of those appeared in New York, which has 45 confirmed cases. The nearest to Kentucky was Ohio, which had reported one case. In California, 10 people have contracted the virus, with two others in Kansas and another six in Texas.