H1N1 gone but not forgotten in Kane County

With the onset of June, it's safe to say the secondary wave of H1N1 outbreak predicted by many public health experts in January never quite materialized in Kane County. The reason for that may never be known, but the county's public health officials aren't counting the virus out just yet.

Paul Kuehnert, the executive director of the Kane County Health Department, said H1N1 is likely to make a comeback next fall as part of the regular seasonal flu. Kuehnert said the county's tracking system shows about one-third of the county received the H1N1 vaccination so far. Add to that the number of people who actually contracted the H1N1 virus and built up some natural immunity, plus the amount of vaccine now readily available, and the county is pretty well guarded against another outbreak of pandemic proportions, Kuehnert said.

That doesn't mean Kane County residents should forget about H1N1. Kuehnert said his best guess as to why there never was another huge outbreak of the virus stems from the county's efforts to flood the public with information about the virus and the best ways to avoid getting sick.

"There's no way to prove a negative," Kuehnert said about why the H1N1 didn't make a second invasion. "But my feeling is yes, those efforts did make a difference. However, we expect we'll probably see H1N1 again as part of the seasonal flue this fall and winter."

That may mean replenishing some of the H1N1 vaccine supply the county has on hand. Some of the original supply already expired as a surplus built up after the initial lack of the vaccine that sent the public scrambling to stand in lines for hours for the shots at local schools. A return of H1N1 also means flooding the public with preventive information once again when flu season arrives. Hand washing is still the best way to avoid the flu, but Kuehnert said flu shots, especially for school-aged children are also key.

"Not only does it help the kids, but it helps prevent the spread of the virus throughout the community at large," Kuehnert said.