Lubbock County Will Stop Testing for Swine Flu
By: Kristen Kennedy
Updated: June 3, 2009
Four new cases of the swine flu have been confirmed in Lubbock County, and now doctors will no longer test to find out whether your flu is seasonal or swine. Area hospitals can test for the H1N1 virus if the patient has underlying health issues, but the Health Department says routine testing is no longer necessary. Swine flu is treated just like seasonal flu - by resting, drinking lots of fluids, and taking pain relievers to bring your fever down.
"We know that seasonal flu is pretty much gone so if you have flu-like symptoms it's probably swine flu and you just treat it like you do the flu. We don't really need to know what type of flu it is," says Nancy Haney with the Lubbock County Health Department.
Health officials say the strain of H1N1 they've found on the South Plains is very mild, and is treated with rest and Tamiflu.
