05/09/09 - If you think you have the flu, Dr. Paul Mann and Dr. Janice Miller, Block Island Medical Center physicians, have important advice: stay home.

You can call your doctor, but don’t visit the Medical Center unless you are extremely ill or have complications, they advise. For those over 16 years old, aspirin and fluids will help relieve symptoms. However, Miller warns, aspirin and Pepto- Bismol can lead to other problems if administered to children. She suggests giving acetaminophen or ibuprofen to children if needed.

Mann attended a briefing about the H1N1 virus (swine flu) Tuesday at Westerly Hospital. The consensus from the state, he learned, is that the spread of the illness is slowing, and the strain of the virus that has appeared in the United States is milder than the one in Mexico. Whether there will be another wave of H1N1 in the fall, or if it will be more widespread or serious, cannot be predicted at this time.

There is no vaccine available yet, although the Centers for Disease Control is working to develop one. According to Mann, this process could take from four to five months. Little of the vaccine is made in the United States which leaves little control over the speed at which it will be processed. The flu vaccine, Mann explained, is not a lucrative line of products for drug companies and it needs to be changed every year.

Although antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu have been in the news of late, Mann say they are not recommended unless there is a definite, confirmed case of the flu. The state is reserving these medications for treatment of high-risk patients, such as very young children and pregnant women. Antivirals can shorten the course and seriousness of the illness, but, Miller says, they need to be started within 24 to 48 hours of the onset of the illness. There is no stock of them on the island.

The Block Island Medical Center has not treated any confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus.