No reports of swine flu in city yet

<p>No one has tested positive for the A/H1N1 (swine) flu virus at the Petaluma Health Center and the number of people requiring testing has declined, so a screening tent set up outside the entrance has been removed.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The PHC set up the tent on April 29 so that patients with flu symptoms such as a fever, sore throat and cough could be checked. No one with flu symptoms was admitted to the waiting room before being triaged or examined by a provider. Volunteer registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians helped to screen and treat patients.</p><p>“We formally screened more than 200 people, and sent the tests to a lab,” said Kathie Powell, executive director of the PHC. “None of the tests came back positive for Influenza A.”</p><p>The tent was removed on Tuesday, but a staff person was stationed outside the front door to direct everyone with contagious symptoms to put a mask on and sanitize their hands.</p><p>Petaluma Valley Hospital didn’t set up a separate screening area for the virus, but had patients with flu symptoms put on a mask, and used swabs to test about a half-dozen people for A/H1N1.</p><p>“None of the tests came back positive,” said Wendi Thomas, a registered nurse and the nurse manager of emergency services at PVH. “We didn’t have a need to set up a screening station because we had no influx of patients with the symptoms.”</p><p>Only one case of A/H1N1 has been confirmed in Sonoma County. An adolescent girl living in an unspecified location was diagnosed with the illness last week. </p><p>She contracted the virus while traveling from Mexico to the United States, and already has recovered. When she had the virus, she didn’t attend her school, because it was closed.</p><p>Local residents have expressed concern over A/H1N1 spreading among school children, prompting the Sonoma County Department of Health Services to compile an informational sheet that was distributed to all county school districts last week. Petaluma City Schools passed the information along to all parents.</p><p>“We are in connection with the county Department of Public Health about this flu, and are monitoring the situation. At this time, we have had no reported cases,” said Greta Viguie, superintendent of PCS.</p><p>Although reported cases are dwindling in Mexico, where it has killed 29 people, A/H1N1 has spread to at least 35 states, and still is not well understood.</p><p>“This year, we had a very mild flu season, but this new flu was out-of-season and really caught everyone off-guard,” Thomas said. “And usually, the people that die from the flu are the elderly, the very young and other people who are vulnerable. But in this situation, seemingly healthy 18-year-olds have been dying. This has heightened everyone’s awareness.”</p><p>“When this happens, a bad flu outbreak sometimes follows, so we’re preparing for it,” Powell said.</p><p>This happened during the 1918 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the Spanish flu, which lasted from March 1918 to June 1920, and spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly strain of A/H1N1. Most victims were healthy young adults.</p><p>The Centers for Disease Control is taking preliminary steps that would enable manufacturers to start making a vaccine. It could take several months for it to become available, but it might be available when flu season begins in the fall, Powell said.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>