AUGUSTA – Maine saw its 12th reported case of the Swine Flu Thursday afternoon and one new patient required hospitalization.
Dr. Dora Anne Mills of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a young adult from Cumberland County sought treatment for underlying chronic illness and was later hospitalized with H1N1.

That patient was one of two identified in Maine Thursday, the other being a student who attends Bridgton Academy, Mills said.

She cautioned that people should not put to much weight on the fact that for the first time, a victim of the flue required hospitalization.

“As we continue to see H1N1 spread, it is not surprising to see an increase in severity,” Mills wrote in a press release distributed late in the day. “However, the key messages remain the same – if you have a fever with respiratory symptoms, stay home for seven days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours.”

In Maine, there are now 12 people identified with H1N1: four adults and one youth in York County; three adults in Kennebec County one young adult and two youths in Cumberland County and one youth in Penobscot County.

No cases have yet been reported in Androscoggin County.

Mills said that as the infection spreads, the number of people identified with H1N1 becomes less meaningful.

“We’ve conducted about 1,000 tests and we know that H1N1 is here in Maine,’’ Mills said. “Unless the test results would change treatment, we are not always recommending testing. Suspicious cases do not need to be tested so long as they are in a low-risk group, do not need antivirals, and those who have the symptoms are staying home.”

Mills said that H1N1 appears to be spreading more quickly among children, and asked that parents be vigilant about keeping their children at home when ill – especially if they have respiratory symptoms accompanied by a fever.

Maine’s current allocation for the federal Strategic National Stockpile antiviral medications and personal protection equipment has been placed at nine pre-defined regional distribution hospitals, Mills said.

A system for request and distribution of emergency medications has been in place for sometime and was developed in partnership with the hospitals, Maine CDC and the Northern New England Poison Center.

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