No need to panic just yet

Clearly the global swine flu outbreak is causing a great deal of concern. So far there have been no confirmed cases in Florida, but news yesterday from the Miami Herald suggests we may not be removed from the spread for long.

The Florida Department of Health has sent samples from three flu cases to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further analysis to see if they are swine flu. It means testing of the samples by state laboratories could not rule out that possibility.
The samples were from Broward, Orange and Lee counties, with none from Miami-Dade, according to Susan Smith, spokeswoman for the state health department.
State labs have received at least 70 possible swine flu samples from several Florida counties, including 20 from Miami-Dade and ''several'' from Broward. It wasn't clear whether the fact that only three cases were sent on to the CDC means the rest have been ruled out as swine flu. Miami-Dade health officials said Thursday they haven't been told whether the 20 Dade cases have been analyzed yet, or when they might get results.
Broward County Health Department spokeswoman Candy Sims said samples from ''several'' possible flu cases had been sent to the Florida Department of Health labs for analysis.
She didn't know when she might get results from the case forwarded to the CDC. And she said she had no further information about the possible Broward case.
At a late-morning briefing Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said swine flu cases in the United States have reached 109, with 10 new cases in South Carolina, bringing the number of affected states to 11. No swine flu cases have been reported in Florida.

Read the whole article here