Looks like we have our first confirmed case of Swine Flu in GA now...about 40 miles from my home.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/health/stories/2009/04/30/swine_flu_georgia.htmlGeorgia has its first confirmed case of swine flu
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The state health chief said Thursday that Georgia has its first case of swine flu — in a 30-year-old woman from Kentucky who was visiting the state.
The woman, whom officials would not identify, is in a hospital in LaGrange in Troup County, said Elizabeth Ford, head of the state Division of Public Health.
“The 30-year-old woman was traveling in Georgia and has a history of traveling to Cancun,” Ford said. Cancun is a resort in Mexico.
She added, “We expect that we will have more cases.”
The CDC also on Thursday reported 10 confirmed cases in South Carolina, bringing the total to more than 100 cases in 13 states.
Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu, including fever, cough and sore throat and spreads like regular flu through tiny particles in the air when people cough or sneeze.
People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.
News that LaGrange had a swine flu case was spreading in the West Georgia town.
“That’s pretty scary,” said Josh Ivey, a student at West Georgia Technical College. “I’m worried. I go to school with about 2,000 people, and you never know who can be sick.”
But Chris Waugh, a software technician in LaGrange, was a lot less nervous.
“In all honesty if I contracted swine flu, I’m confident that with the treatment here in America I’d be OK,” Waugh said. “I’m not worried about a pandemic.”
He acknowledged, however, he might be more concerned if he had children.
Ford said there has been no discussion of closing schools in Troup County.
“I do not believe schools should be closed,” she said.
She said that the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that the swine flu is the same strain, H1N1, as has been detected in Mexico and which is spreading across the U.S.
She said the Kentucky woman left Cancun on April 21 and was hospitalized April 26. She was in Cancun for about a week.
“She was traveling with others, and they have been contacted, and they are well,” Ford said.
The woman came to Georgia for a function, she said.
Ford added, “I want to make sure we’re not setting off a storm of panic.”
The World Health Organization has raised its alert level to Phase 5, the second-highest, indicating a pandemic may be imminent.
Georgia joins South Carolina, New York, Texas, California, Maine, Kansas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada among states with confirmed cases. The U.S. has had one confirmed death, a 23-month-old boy from Mexico who died in Texas.
— Staff writer Shelia Poole and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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