The situation will put to test the CNMI’s pandemic response plan which Public Health and other government agencies have been preparing over the last few years.
“This is a situation where we must all be on the alert,” said Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez in a statement.
He said they have ramped up surveillance and activated the emergency operations plan for pandemic influenza.
They have also implemented their Influenza-A testing program at all CNMI clinics.
Villagomez said no cases had been identified in the CNMI, but noted the 99 confirmed cases in the U.S. with one confirmed death.
Public Health has met with the CNMI pandemic flu committee to give its members update on the swine flu situation and to activate plans to mitigate flu transmission in the commonwealth, Villagomez said.
The members of the committee are representatives from the Department of Public Safety, the Commonwealth Ports Authority, the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Public School System, the local Red Cross and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.
Public Health has also provided rapid flu test kits to the Marianas Health Center and Medical Associates of the Pacific Clinics on Saipan, Villagomez said.
He added that patients with a high fever, and a cough or sore throat are tested with the rapid flu test.
Extra precautions are being taken in screening for the flu because there is no way of determining if a person has the swine flu without laboratory confirmation off-island, Villagomez said.
He assured that Public Health continuously receives updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is working with local public and private agencies to monitor the situation.
The global concern, Villagomez said, is that the swine flu outbreak could become a pandemic, which usually occurs every 30 to 40 years.
He noted that there has not been a flu pandemic in more than 40 years.
The swine flu virus is completely new and people don’t have antibodies or resistance to fight it, he said.
There is no vaccine for the swine flu although antivirals are available to treat it, he added.
