It's in Oregon

First probable case of swine flu reported in Oregon

12:30 PM PDT on Thursday, April 30, 2009

By KGW.com Staff

PORTLAND - A Multnomah County woman with a connection to an ill person in Mexico probably contracted H1N1 swine flu, state officials said, and three other cases were being tested in Oregon labs.

The state's first probable case was identified by the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory late Wednesday night, according to officials.

Dr. Gary Oxman, Multnomah County Health Department chief, said an adult woman became ill with flu-like symptoms on Sunday, April 26. The woman consulted her physician but was not hospitalized and was recovering normally. Oxman said the woman went to work one day while she was ill.

"This infection can be traced through a chain of contacts back to an ill person in Mexico," said Oxman. "At this point, we're not seeing significant potential for spread. One can never be absolutely certain, but this is not a situation where we're expecting widespread disease transmission."

Three other cases were also being tested for probable swine flu, but no information was available on these cases.

"I do expect that in the coming days we are going to be seeing more of these cases," said Dr. Mel Kohn, Oregon Public Health Department chief.

The probable case lab specimens from both states were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final confirmation.

Final results would not be available for several days, Dr. Kohn said. He said more than 95 percent of cases identified as "probable" have tested positive for swine flu with CDC officials.

"It is very likely that this test will be confirmed by the final step of laboratory testing," Kohn said. "So we are not waiting”we are treating this as a case of swine flu."

Portland metro area health officials were working to determine exposure and try to slow transmission.

Oregon doing limited testing

Oregon will test for swine flu in limited cases: when somebody shows signs of flu and either was in a place where the disease has broken out, as in Mexico, or has been in close contact with a person who was in such a place and got sick.

As of Thursday, six probable cases of swine flu were reported in Washington state: three in Seattle, two in Snohomish County and one in Spokane.

The World Health Organization raised its alert level one notch, signaling the swine influenza outbreak could become a "global pandemic event," defined as a geographically widespread, serious illness that is infectious among humans.

Swine flu has now reached "Phase 5" of a general WHO timeline charting the various phases of a pandemic event. Phase 6 is identified as the "pandemic phase" according to WHO officials, who operate under the United Nations.

Not including the probable Washington cases; so far, 91 cases of the flu have been confirmed in 10 states across the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No cases have been confirmed in Oregon or Idaho, according to state officials.

Oregon and Washington health officials said they had stepped up virus tracking and monitoring efforts. Hospitals, clinics, doctors and other providers were asked to report all "Type A" flu cases.

Swine flu is a Type A virus; however, not all Type A flus are of the swine genetic variant, health officials said.

Cases have been confirmed hours south of Oregon, in Marin County, Calif., and just north of Washington, in Vancouver, B.C., according to reports.

Oregon public health officials established a swine flu web site to keep people informed.

"Influenza is notorious for changing over time," said Kohn. "I would expect, however, given what we've seen so far, we're probably going to be dealing with this in some form or another for quite some time - months, maybe even a year or two. How severe this disease is going to be and how long lasting this issue is going to be, very very difficult to predict."