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| Tammy Burke | |
TO PREVENT FLU SPREAD
* Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after use.
* Wash hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based sanitizers also are effective.
* Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
* Stay home if you have flu symptoms (fever with cough, sore throat) or go home if you begin to get sick. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you stay at home at least seven days after you become ill, or at least 24 hours after symptoms have gone away, whichever is longer.
Source: Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department
A local health official said Friday that Hamilton County's first confirmed case of the H1N1 influenza virus comes as less of a surprise than the fact that a local case hadn't been found earlier.
"It is interesting that it's taken us this long to have a case in Hamilton County, but we did fully expect that eventually we would have one," said Tammy Burke, director of clinical services for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department.
Tennessee health officials on Friday reported Hamilton County's first confirmed case of H1N1, also known as swine flu.
The case involves a man who already has received treatment and recovered from the illness, Ms. Burke said.
Ms. Burke noted that the case will not impact the local public health response to the virus because from the "very beginning" of the H1N1 outbreak, local health officials have been preparing for the possibility of local cases and upping surveillance among local providers.
As of Friday 136 cases of H1N1 had been confirmed across 21 counties in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. Three of those cases were in Bradley County.
Nationally the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 21,400 cases and 87 deaths as a result of the H1N1 flu outbreak.
Increased awareness of H1N1, due to the first confirmed case locally, could bolster local physicians' surveillance efforts in the coming weeks, thereby increasing the chances of finding other cases, Ms. Burke said.
Health officials emphasized that the best way to prevent the spread of flu is to wash hands frequently and stay home when sick.
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