By Billy Davis

The state of Mississippi is often found atop a lot of thankless lists, but so far it isn’t included among states with confirmed cases of Swine Flu.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday listed 36 states with 286 confirmed cases of Swine Flu, now being referred to as H1N1.

In the Deep South, only Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana have yet to make the CDC list. One case has been confirmed in Tennessee and four cases in Alabama.

The flu virus is still expected to show up in all 50 states, a CDC spokesman has said.

In Panola County, doctors’ offices are obtaining a culture of patients, when they complain of flu-like symptoms, and are sending the culture to the Mississippi Department of Health for testing.

Dr. William Haire said his staff is using a nasal swab to obtain the culture, a medical term for a sample.

 “We are swabbing anyone who comes in with flu-like symptoms, and so far they’ve all come back negative,” said Haire.  

“We’re asking about the onset of symptoms. Do they have a cough and chills?” said physician’s assistant Melissa Cook. “We also ask if they got a flu vaccine and ask about their travel history.”

All of that information, along with the patient’s culture, is sent to Jackson for testing.

Over the weekend, the CDC reported that the flu virus appears to be milder than initially feared.

The CDC, due to the flu outbreak, is dispensing 25 percent of its medical supplies in the Strategic National Stockpiles. Distribution was expected to be complete by Sunday.

The United States has reported only one death: a Mexican child who died in a Texas hospital.

In Mexico, ground zero for the flu virus, 26 deaths have been confirmed. The initial death toll there was said to be more than 150 in initial, but unofficial, reports.