The Boone County Health Department is no longer testing for individual cases of the new H1N1 influenza (swine flu) virus, according to department spokesperson Julie Miller.

“They’re not even counting the number of new H1N1 cases anymore because there are a lot of influenza-like illness going around,” she said.

“If you go to the doctor with flu-like symptoms, we’re not even doing the cultures anymore. A lot of the doctors are doing the rapid tests, which are not always accurate and we’re not sending them to the state lab,” Miller said.

Rapid flu tests determine whether a person has type A or type B influenza.

“It became overwhelming for the state lab,” she emphasized, “and I’m sure other labs in the state were overwhelmed.”

According to Miller, the Boone County Health Department now knows that the new influenza virus has spread throughout the state, so testing individuals to determine if the disease is in the county is no longer necessary.

This sentiment was reiterated by a spokesperson at the Centers for Disease Control.

“We are no longer tracking cases of the new H1N1 flu,” a CDC spokesperson said on Monday.

According to Miller, the vast majority of the flu currently circulating is the new H1N1 flu.

When asked if area residents should assume they have the H1N1 flu if they develop flu-like

symptoms, Miller would not say definitely that such an assumption should be made, recommending that a person with flu-like symptoms see their primary care providers.

A spokesperson at the CDC, however, concurred, “if you have the flu, you most likely have the H1N1.”

When asked why the CDC was no longer asking state and county health departments to test for the H1N1, the agency’s spokesperson said, “We used to, though we’ve found that it’s not an accurate picture of how the influenza is spreading. There are many people who have had the flu that have not went to the doctors, and who have just stayed home.”

“Basically, you’ve got to treat the flu,” Miller stated. “It’s a flu like other influenzas. Every year we lose 3,600 people and people don’t think about that,” she said.

“We don’t need to panic. It’s a novel flu, a brand new flu, and we are encouraging people to do social distancing as much as possible,” she said.

The Boone County Health Department will conduct a flu shot clinic at the Racine Volunteer Fire Department on Sept. 25, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

“The shots are $20 if you don’t have insurance, or bring your insurance card with you,” said Lisa Holstein, of the Boone County Health Department

“This flu shot will be the seasonal one, not the N1H1 flu shot,” Miller explained.

Miller emphasized that whether one has seasonal flu or the new H1N1 flu, the symptoms and treatment for flu are the same, so testing to determine which kind of influenza an individual may have is not necessary, unless the individual has been hospitalized.

“Since the new H1N1 flu is essentially the only flu virus circulating right now, it’s likely that any person who tests positive for influenza A on the rapid flu test has the H1N1 flu virus,” she said.

According to Miller, the new H1N1 vaccinations have not arrived yet in Boone County and their estimated date of delivery has not yet been communicated to the county health departments.

“We can not tell you how many we’ll have or when they’ll be here. We’re hoping sometime in October. It will go nationwide and we don’t know when it’s coming. They’ve changed the date that the vaccinations will be made available several times,” she said.

“They’re still finishing up the trials and we’re getting it earlier than other seasonal flu,” she said.

The first batch of A/H1N1 flu vaccinations will come in the form of a nasal spray, officials from the CDC announced last Friday.

Approximately 3.4 million doses of nose spray would be distributed in the first week of October, Dr. Jay Butler, chief of the CDC' s A/H1N1 flu vaccine task force, said at a press conference Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced four manufacturers working on H1N1 vaccines.

Only one of the four manufacturers has developed a nasal spray. In the FDA approval letter for the vaccine dated Sept. 15, 2009, MedImmune, LLC of Gaithersburg, Maryland, has developed an intranasal vaccine they call Flu Mist.

Other manufacturers of the Monovalent vaccine include Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., of Swiftwater, PA, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, of Cambridge, MA, and CSL Biotherapies, of King of Prussia, PA.

The CDC said the U.S. government had ordered 195 million doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine from the above-mentioned companies.

“We’re not going to get 18,000 doses [of the new H1N1 vaccine] in Boone County right away,” Miller said.

Miller and her staff at the Boone County Health Department have been keeping themselves apprised of new developments with N1H1 and have reached out to community members about the importance of social distancing, staying home when ill, and hand washing.

Symptoms of flu include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some persons also report diarrhea and vomiting.

Miller emphasized that persons who are ill should not go to work or school and should keep away from others as much as possible.