May 7, 2009 11:52 am US/Central
258 Confirmed Cases Of H1N1 Flu In Illinois
122 Cases In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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An H1N1 strain of the swine flu virus, viewed through a microscope.
AP
There have now been 258 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, with 122 of them in the city of Chicago, the state Department of Public Health announced Wednesday.
Illinois laboratories are now able to perform confirmatory testing for the H1N1 virus, which is why the state has seen a large increase in the number of confirmed cases over the past couple of days, according to a release from IDPH.
The city of Chicago has 122 confirmed cases and six probable cases, according to the IDPH Web site, while suburban Cook County has 56 confirmed and six probable. DuPage County has 29 confirmed cases, Kane County 18, Will County 17, Lake County five, McHenry County two, and Kendall County one.
More Information Online:
* How To Protect Yourself
* How To Choose, Use The Best Hand Sanitzer
* H1N1 Flu: Questions, Answers
* Illinois H1N1 Flu Information
* CDC Emergency Updates Via Twitter
* H1N1 Flu Twitter Live Search Results
* David Burnia's H1N1 Flu Watch On Twitter
To stay healthy, IDPH recommends the three C's -- Clean: properly wash your hands frequently; Cover: Cover your cough and sneeze; and Contain: contain your germs by staying home if sick.
But some institutions have gone far beyond that. The University of Illinois at Chicago is banning handshakes during its commencement ceremony, and some Roman Catholic churches have suspended the handshake of peace and drinking communion wine.
Health officials have said going this far is not necessary.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says up to
2 billion people could be infected by the virus, if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda says the number wasn't a prediction, but that past experience with flu pandemics indicated one-third of the world's population gets infected.
Fukuda says that with a world population of 6 billion people, it's "reasonable" to expect that kind of infection tally.
People who have questions about H1N1 flu can call the Illinois flu hotline at (866) 848-2094 for English and (866) 241-2138 for Spanish, or visit
www.ready.illinois.gov.
The Associated Press and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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