Dr. Larry Sands: Chief Health Officer with the Southern Nevada Health District

By Marshall Allen

Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Public health observers have taken mostly a maintenance approach to the swine flu, even though it has been declared a global pandemic and is taking lives.

So far swine flu, also known by its genetic marker, H1N1, does not appear to be more deadly than traditional flu, said Dr. Larry Sands, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District.

Traditional influenza claims about 36,000 deaths a year in the United States. Swine flu has killed about 170 nationally, including five Clark County residents.

Sands spoke with the Sun about the swine flu threat level, and whether the fears over the disease can be put to rest.

How would you describe the swine flu threat?

The swine flu is here with us. It’s described as a pandemic to show how widespread it is. It’s global. We get flu specimens from different pediatric practices and they’ve been predominantly H1N1. It’s still causing a fair amount of illness in Clark County. It’s the same severity of illness as other strains of the flu that circulate.

How is swine flu different from regular flu?

It’s a novel virus. It hasn’t been seen before, so the majority of the population doesn’t have immunity to it.

There was widespread fear of swine flu months ago, when it had killed few people. Now the death toll is mounting, yet we hear little about it. Why is that?

We’re past the acute phase and we’re in this steady state. We have to track it to determine if it does change in any way, or mutates to become more severe or fatal. If that were the case we’d have to change our control measures and recommendations.

What can people do to prevent swine flu?

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth without washing your hands. Cough into a sleeve or cover your nose and mouth. And when people are ill, they should stay home and limit contact with others.

Will the pandemic ever end?

This particular strain of flu will always be with us. This is the natural course with influenza viruses. Every so many years — the last one was about 40 years ago — we see a major genetic shift in a flu virus. It becomes a virus that the majority of people in the world have no immunity to. Then it can spread quickly. But once that happens it’s established as a routine strain we typically see, and ultimately it will become part of future seasonal flu vaccines. They are developing a vaccine. It may be available in mid-October.

Are we through the woods then?

Most likely yes. Once the strain starts spreading through a population, people develop illness and recover, and then they’ll generally have lifelong immunity. The virus will change just enough that we need that seasonal vaccine to ensure protection.