BAY AREA (BCN) -- Bay Area health officials are continuing to prepare for local cases of swine flu as rising numbers of cases are reported in California and across the country.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom cautioned residents of his city against fears of a pandemic of this strain of the influenza virus.

"I think we should all take a deep breath and make the case that  this is not a pandemic, by any stretch, at this point," said Newsom.

"We're not shutting down schools, we're not isolating people," he said.

No cases of swine flu have yet been reported in the Bay Area, but health officials have stressed that how far or fast the illness will spread is uncertain.

"There will be a case in San Francisco," said Dr. Mitch Katz, director of San Francisco's Department of Public Health, but that case is likely to be mild and will be treated, he said.

Katz said only a large cluster of cases with patients becoming very ill would be a cause for concern.

The alarm about the virus comes from the possibility that people may not be immune to a new strain of influenza, and that the respiratory disease would become widespread.

According to Katz, initial information about this outbreak of swine flu suggests a similarity to bird flu, which was not easily transmissible and the majority of cases were found only among those having  close contact with infected birds, he said.

Swine flu, so named because of its origin in pigs, can be transmitted from pigs to humans, mostly through close proximity, and between humans through coughing, sneezing, or touching a surface with the virus on it, as with seasonal influenza, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It cannot be contracted by eating pork.

Because of speculation this outbreak may have begun in Mexico,  where more serious cases and deaths have been reported, federal customs  agents at San Francisco International Airport have been screening for  symptoms, but according to SFO spokesman Mike McCarron, no stricter airport  measures have been imposed and no flights to or from Mexico have been  cancelled.

So far, Katz said, the strain "is not virulent" and responds to treatment with the flu medicine Tamiflu. He said the city has stockpiles of the drug that can be dispensed to the public in the case of a health emergency.

The illness appears to be "very, very treatable," said Dr. Sue Carlisle of San Francisco General Hospital.

San Francisco health officials have alerted schools about swine flu, and have instructed local doctors and hospitals to begin testing flu cases for similarities to swine flu. They have also been conferring with other local health departments in the Bay Area, as well as state and federal authorities.

Sick children should only be taken to hospitals and doctor’s offices if there is a medical need, such as difficulty breathing, dehydration from vomiting or diarrhea, or fevers above 101 degrees that do not respond to over-the-counter medicines, Health Department spokeswoman Eileen Shields stressed.

"We've been getting reports from our clinics and hospitals that parents are asking for their kids to be tested," Shields said. "And the CDC is recommending testing only if someone is presenting with flu-like symptoms and has been recently to Mexico."

The Health Department has set up a Web site for information about the virus, www.sfcdcp.org/swineflu.html.

Increased vigilance and testing for flu symptoms at hospitals was also reported today by Santa Clara County health officials, and last week in Napa and Sonoma counties.

The Vallejo City Unified School District announced today that  custodians at all of the city's public schools have been instructed to  disinfect school desks, tables, seats and door handles each night.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said earlier today that his agency had confirmed 40 cases of the respiratory disease in five U.S. states including California, none of the cases producing serious illness.

This afternoon, California health officials confirmed a handful more cases in the state: 11 total in San Diego, Imperial and Sacramento counties, according to Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health's Center for Infectious Disease.

Officials also suspect two more "probable" cases of swine flu in San Diego County, Chavez said.

"As the number of cases expands, we have not seen a change in the severity of cases," Chavez noted. Only two of the eleven patients required hospitalization, and all patients recovered fully.

Besser said that the CDC would today, "out of an abundance of caution," issue a travel advisory recommending avoiding nonessential travel to Mexico.

He said "much is unknown" about how or where this strain of swine flu originated and that the agency was aggressively investigating the situation, in collaboration with international, state and local health officials.

According to the CDC, swine flu cases have been confirmed in New York, California, Texas, Ohio and Kansas.

Health officials recommend frequent hand washing and covering one’s mouth when coughing or sneezing, and if sick, avoiding public places.

Approximately 36,000 Americans, primarily elderly persons, children, and those with certain medical conditions, die each year of the seasonal influenza, according to the CDC.
 
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