Carson City reacts calmly to flu scare

Despite a worldwide alert about the swine flu, Carson City schools and day cares have seen little or no reduction in attendance.

"We haven't had anyone withhold their kids from care. Things have been pretty normal," said Amber LaFollette of Little Tikes Too Childcare on Brown Street.

Carson City School District Superintendent Richard Stokes said the district's 11 schools are up and running.

"We do not have any closures. We are obviously saying to parents if you have concerns about your child's well being or health, we'll honor your desire to keep your kids home," he said.

"To further maintain vigilance we have reminded our custodial staff to ensure the disinfection of the surface areas in our buildings, and our health professionals are scrutinizing ill students for flu-like symptoms," a memo on the district Web site reads.

Dustin Boothe, epidemiologist with Carson City Health and Human Services, said that area pharmacies and doctors are low on the anti-viral medications like Tamiflu and Relenza, but Nevada is expecting a portion of the national stockpile in the coming weeks.

The anti-viral, which is available by prescription only, will then be distributed to pharmacies and doctors by the state health department.

He said the scarcity of the medication in Carson is more a result of the end of the natural flu season, than a run on medication.

Cheri Glockner, spokeswoman for Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center, said the hospital has not seen an increase in the number of people coming in for flu-like symptoms.

"Which is to the credit of our physicians. Their goal is to lower the anxiety level of people," she said. "We really need to squelch the hysteria."

Hysterical or not, mother Sonja Cremeans of Dayton was relieved to find Friday morning that a test done Wednesday on her feverish 6-year-old son came back negative for the swine flu.

"He just ended up having a viral infection," she said. "But I was very worried."

Nevada health officials told lawmakers Friday that there's no reason for panic about swine flu, and the state is prepared to treat more cases if they are found.

"We need to reduce any kind of panic on this," said Dr. Mary Guinan, acting state health officer. "Of the 140 or so cases we have in this country, they have not been more serious than our regular flu."

The panel also was told medications used to treat seasonal flu are effective for swine flu. The officials reiterated that the state has plenty of Tamiflu and Relenza, which are used to treat the illness, but those medications are not a vaccine and not available over the counter.

The state's first case of swine flu was confirmed Wednesday in a 2-year-old Reno girl.

Officials were awaiting word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about laboratory samples taken from the girl's mother who also is ill.

Guinan also said there's no reason to stay away from pigs or other animals.

"There is no animal known to have transmitted this virus," Guinan said, explaining that it originally came from a pig but was transmitted through a bird or a human, and is spread by human-to-human contact.

"There's also no concern about food," Guinan said. "This is a big concern of people " should I eat pork, can I have ham? There is no worry, this not how it's spread."

The officials speculated that the outbreak in Mexico became serious because the flu has a high infection rate, not because it is more deadly.

"The CDC is telling us there seems to be a very high infection rate with this flu," Guinan said. "It may not be stronger than the regular flu, but it had a higher infection rate."

Willden also said the state will soon set up a hotline where people can access swine flu information over the phone.