Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington State has requested 230,000 doses of anti-viral drugs from the federal government’s pandemic flu stockpile.

Two mild cases of swine flu have been confirmed in British Columbia.  No swine flu has been found in Washington or Oregon.

Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky says health officials are on heightened alert for people showing symptoms of the disease.

Mary Selecky: “When people go in and present with heavy breathing and a very bad fever and bad throat, we’re asking our health care providers and our laboratories to send us any samples they get of what would be a Type A flu.” 

Swine flu is one of many varieties of Type A flu.  If testers at the state public health lab can’t rule it out, they will send the sample on to the Centers for Disease Control.

The state health lab is not equipped to positively identify the new strain of swine flu at this time.