Influenza A type H1N1 – “Swine Flu”
There has been a lot in the news the last few days about a potential pandemic of Influenza A type H1N1 – otherwise known as “Swine Flu”. As of 11:00 AM today, the CDC reported a total of 161 cases of Swine Flu in the United States, with 50 of those cases in New York.
We’ve had a number of patients call us, afraid that they might have contracted Influenza A. The hospital Emergency Department, as well as local Urgent Care Centers have been overwhelmed with people requesting tests for Influenza, so starting Monday, May 4th, we will be testing for Influenza in our in-house lab.
If you have “flu-like symptoms”, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, and you suspect that you might have Influenza, you should call our office to make an appointment to be tested. Generally with influenza the symptoms have a sudden onset, versus most colds which have a gradual onset. If you test positive for Influenza A, and have risk factors for having contracted “Swine Flu”, additional testing may be done to confirm or rule out “Swine Flu”.
You can find more information on the current Influenza outbreak at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/