May 4, 2009

The Florida Flu Information Line is
1-800-342-3557

Florida has five confirmed cases; two in Lee, one in Broward, one in Orange County, and one in Pinellas.    

The second Lee County confirmation is a 7 year old male who attends Spring Creek Elementary School. The Pinellas County confirmed case is 24 year old male.   

Alachua, Lee, Charlotte, Indian River, Okeechobee, and Clay  have one probable case each. Palm Beach has two probable cases and Miami Dade has three. Hillsborough County has five probable cases. 

A public health emergency was declared by the State Surgeon General.

A toll free information line has been established to address an increasing number of calls from the public requesting Swine Flu information. The number is 1-800-342-3557 and it is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Current Situation
Samples are being received by Florida Department of Health Laboratories for analysis from physicians and hospitals across the state.

Department of Health continues its enhanced surveillance with a network of Sentinel Physician Providers. These providers send selected samples of laboratory specimens to state laboratories for testing if they have patients with influenza like illness (ILI). These physicians also continue to report weekly ILI cases to the Department of Health.

Florida is coordinating the receipt of anti virals from Federal authorities. We have one half million individual courses of anti virals prepositioned at strategic locations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 91 confirmed cases of novel influenza in the United States, with one death in a twenty-three month old.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General raised the level of influenza pandemic alert to Phase 5. The declaration of a Phase 5 is a strong signal that the pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Precautions
The State Surgeon General provided these recommendations:

• People with respiratory illness should stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.

• Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

• Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.

• People experiencing cough, fever and fatigue, possibly along with diarrhea and vomiting, should contact their physician.

• If you think you have influenza, please call your health care provider and discuss whether you need to be seen in their office, emergency department or stay home.

Duval County Health Department
900 University Blvd. N.
Jacksonville, FL 32211
253-1000

Copyright ©  2003 Duval County Health Department. All rights reserved.