Swine flu protection advised for Oklahoma

A national report that swine flu could strike up to half of Americans is a wake-up call for Oklahomans to take preventive measures and plan for disruptions, state health officials said.

"We want them to sit up and take notice,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Kristy Bradley of estimates that the virus could cause symptoms in up to 120 million people and cause as many as 90,000 deaths in the United States. "This is a serious situation potentially. It’s such a new strain of the flu that everyone is considered susceptible.”

Swine flu, also known as H1N1, could lead to 1.8 million hospitalizations and twice the number of deaths as seasonal flu, according to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The state Health Department is no longer tracking individual cases of swine flu, but monitoring some outbreaks and focusing on severe cases that cause hospitalizations or death. A Kay County man with underlying health conditions has died of swine flu.

A vaccine for swine flu could be available by October or November and would be given first to children, health care workers, pregnant women and those with chronic illness. The seasonal flu vaccine will be ready next month.

Preventative measures include frequent hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes and staying away from sick people.

"We have been operating in that mode: prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Bradley said.