MEMPHIS, TN - There’s some rare good news on the swine flu front: for the first time since it became a world wide problem, doctors say they are seeing fewer cases, at least in the Mid-South. Is it just the calm before the storm?
Doctors at Le Bonheur have been at the forefront of fighting this H1N1 outbreak. Now, they say things are finally slowing down, but the worst could be yet to come.
"Things are definitely less busy than they were 2 or 3 weeks ago," said Dr. Keith English, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Le Bonheur.
It was a mad dash to make room for flu patients, but the tents and makeshift screening rooms are getting a rest.
"I think it happens every year with the flu,” English said. “And it always happens with the new version of the flu. It comes in waves. We have an increased number of cases and then things settle down."
English says we aren't in the clear just yet. He expects at least one more big wave this season and it could be worse.
"We're just worried about the same flu right now coming back at a much higher level and causing many more people to become sick," English said.
Should that happen, the government's given hospitals a little more freedom to handle it any way they can.
"I think the point of this emergency declaration was to make it easier to cut down on the red tape that hospitals might have to deal with," English said.
Dr. English doesn't want people to be complacent when they hear that things have slowed down.
"It's already been very serious,” he said. “And if it shows back up again in December and January and it's as bad as it was in September, that's already pretty bad."
So far, Le Bonheur has been vaccinating its health care workers, but the hospital just received a shipment of 3,500 H1N1 flu shots. Dr. English says the hospital hopes to start vaccinating patients as early as Friday.
Since the start of the H1N1 scare, 200 children have been admitted to Le Bonheur with the virus. 26 of them were put in the ICU. Three children have died at Le Bonheur from the swine flu.
