From Nurit Licht, MD, Medical Director:

Many of you have been reading about the Swine Flu on the internet, listening to radio stories, and watching the news. As you know, there have been 2 confirmed cases of swine flu in Marin County but none as of yet in Sonoma County.

At this time it appears that the Swine Flu is not any more severe than the regular seasonal flu that we see in winter.

We are recommending to our patients that if they have mild cold or flu symptoms, they should stay home and take care of their symptoms.

We are screening our patients who present with flu like symptoms before they come through the doors to the Health Center. We have screened over 130 of our patients and have not had any confirmed cases of Swine Flu yet.

The important precautions to take with Swine Flu are the same precautions you should take for any communicable illness and include:

1) Stay out of public areas if you have cold or flu symptoms,
2) Wash your hands frequently, and cover your cough.
3) We recommend that people who have recently traveled to Mexico consider staying out of public places for 7 days; this is the incubation period of the virus so symptoms of flu will show up by that time.

The Petaluma Health Center is enlisting the help of volunteer registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians to help us screen and treat patients. Once we have more staffing, we will be able to offer screening to the community at large in addition to our patients. Please stay tuned to this blog for updates.

Dr. Licht 04/30/09 Noon

PHC -- Please post some updates here!

When will the vaccine be available? Who will be able to get it?

Thank you. Please keep us informed on this local website.