Swine flu to test U.S. public health system

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Lorain, Ohio, county health commissioner Ken Pearce had just finished a meal with his wife on Friday when he got the call that a local nine-year-old boy might have a mysterious new kind of flu.

Less than 48 hours later, with the case confirmed, Pearce and the city health commissioner in Elyria, Ohio, had set up a 24-hour command center staffed by hospital, fire department, police and public health workers to watch for more cases.

It is a scenario that is playing out in public health departments across the country as new cases of swine flu continue to pop up.

"Nearly all local health departments are in a heightened state of searching for disease in their community," said Bobby Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represents nearly 3,000 health departments in the United States.

In a major emergency, Pearce said the county would assemble a medical reserve corps of nurses, doctors and volunteers in makeshift health clinics in churches and fire stations to pass out antiviral medications.

Other measures would kick in as well.

"There would be a request put out by the state public health director to limit movement," he said. People would be asked to leave home as little as possible.

More schools and day care centers would close.

"The plan might include social isolation, but allow delivery of food products and the like."

A pandemic would flood U.S. hospitals, which many experts said would be overwhelmed by a largescale disaster, Pestronk said. "If there is a large outbreak of serious disease ... we will see the system is in a precarious situation," he said.

STRESS TEST

So far, he said local health department staff have responded "professionally and calmly and in the way they have been trained."

But Pestronk said a prolonged outbreak could test a public health system left vulnerable by funding cuts.

Public health officials are worried. Congress cut $870 million slated for flu preparedness from the economic stimulus bill, although on Tuesday President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion to pay for swine flu measures.

And a weak economy has meant state and local cuts.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that "tens of thousands" of state public health workers have been slated to lose their jobs because of state budget cuts.

"This outbreak was identified because of a lot of work going on because of preparedness," he said.

In Ohio, Pearce said the county health commission is helping the city health department in Elyria, a community that has been hit by a struggling U.S. auto industry. "They've had to take large cuts in their budget," Pearce said.

"If this were to continue to get worse, they are going to be struggling to a much greater extent."

Pearce said the community now has three and maybe four possible cases of swine flu and samples have been sent to the U.S. CDC for testing. No one outside of Mexico has died from this flu, but it has infected 65 people in the United States.

(Editing by Maggie Fox; editing by Todd Eastham)