Health care workers who might encounter swine flu urged to take full precautions

In light of new cases of swine influenza, worldwide health agencies are urging health care workers who might come in contact with suspect cases to take full infection control procedures.

The World Health Organization has elevated the classification of the current H1N1 flu strain outbreak - believed to have originated in Mexico - to level 5, indicating human-to-human spread of the virus in at least two countries in a WHO region.

The WHO, on their Web site, cautioned that while most countries will still not be affected by the current outbreak, "Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short."

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up a Web site with information about the flu strain. According to the CDC, duration of illness and length of contagiousness will vary, but generally, patients should be considered infectious for up to 7 days after illness onset.

The CDC is still trying to understand the exact route of transmission, but there has been suggestion that swine influenza can be transmitted from fomites through the eye. The CDC has said that until additional information is gathered on transmission, health care workers who might come in contact with a suspect case are encouraged to follow infection control guidelines created under the agency's pandemic influenza preparedness plan.