SEQUIM — A Sequim woman in her 30s is the first person in Clallam County to have been diagnosed with swine flu.
The case was confirmed this morning, but just like with the Port Townsend woman who was diagnosed with the illness last week, she has since recovered and was not hospitalized, said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Locke said the Port Townsend case infected a young woman under the age of 20.
The public health officer said there is no reason to believe that the two women had any contact with each other. Neither contracted the virus through travel outside of the Peninsula, he said.
“Once again, we think it’s local transmission,” Locke said.
He said there are at least 20 unknown cases of swine flu for each confirmed case. But he said there is no reason for alarm because the illness is typically no more severe than seasonal flu.
For the same reason, Locke said the health departments for Clallam and Jefferson counties are not considering any school or facility closures or quarantines in response to the two cases.
The health departments are recommending that people who are ill should stay home and always cover their coughs and sneezes to prevent spread of the virus.
Saying that the H1N1 strain of swine flu has become widespread, the state Department of Health last week said it will no longer posting daily updates of all probable and confirmed cases of swine flu on its Web site at www.doh.wa.gov/swineflu/default.htm.
Instead, it said it would update the site weekly — at 3 p.m. Fridays — and include only a running statewide total of hospitalized and fatal cases, the department said.
The latest tally, posted on Tuesday, is 574 confirmed cases statewide.
The federal Centers for Disease Control reports 8,975 cases nationwide.
The flu had its first major outbreak in Mexico City and spread to the United States and other countries. Worries of a major global flu pandemic lessened as public health officials increasingly view the strain as more like usual seasonal influenza.
Since it is a new strain of flu, no vaccine is available for it.
For more information, see the state health department Web site or phone its flu information telephone line at 1-888-703-4364. For more about federal efforts, see the CDC Web site at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/index.htm.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
