Testing for swine flu continued this week at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, with an additional 15 patients having been examined since last Friday.
That brings to 26 the total number of local patients who have been tested for swine influenza, said Tonia Bruess, marketing and public relations coordinator for the hospital south of Ketchum.
So far, no local patients have tested positive for the swine flu, she said.
The state Department of Health and Welfare has confirmed that a woman in Kootenai County has tested positive for swine flu. An infant in Ada County has been listed as a probable case.
Though testing will continue, Bruess expects the number of patients requiring examination to begin to ebb. The primary means of testing for influenza is with a throat swab.
"I would expect to see it slowing down," she said. "Next week I would expect to see fewer."
Still, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ongoing outbreak of swine flu—which scientists refer to as novel influenza A or H1N1—continues to expand in the United States. The CDC expects that more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths from the outbreak will occur over the coming days and weeks.
So far, a total of 896 cases of swine flu and two flu-related deaths have been confirmed in the United States. In all, 41 states have recorded positive tests for swine flu, including the one in Idaho.
Worldwide, 23 countries have officially reported 2,099 cases of swine flu, according to updated information provided by the World Health Organization yesterday, May 7.
Swine influenza is a respiratory disease that typically inflicts pigs. However, it can and has occurred in humans. The latest outbreak is spreading from person to person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread, the CDC states.
Symptoms of swine flu are similar to the seasonal flu. They include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue, with some reports of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus can be treated with the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. The CDC has sent to Idaho medication to treat as many as 50,000 people.
The new virus is referred to as "swine flu" because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in the virus are very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in North American pigs. However, further study has shown it to be very different, according to the CDC. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia, plus avian and human flu genes.
For updates, visit the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Web site, www.swineflu.idaho.gov, or the Centers for Disease Control Web site, www.cdc.gov.
Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com
