The New York City health department is likely to get the green light to start confirming swine flu cases on its own -- a tactic that would cut the confirmation time down to a mere 5.5 hours and help schools and families across the city to take quick action to ensure their safety.
While most New Yorkers were busy steering clear of swine flu, News 4 got up close and took a tour of the city health department laboratory.
Under tight security, scientists are testing samples from the noses of New Yorkers. The health department has a team of 200 on overtime trying to keep pace with the spreading swine flu, especially since there's a chance it could become more severe.
"We want to be vigilant because we know that influenza viruses change and we want to make sure we don't miss it if it does," said city epidemiologist Dr. Scott Harper.
The swine flu is spreading beyond the initial links to St. Francis and travelers to Mexico, according to the latest reports. As health officials work to control the spread, time is of the essence. But it takes several steps -- and several hours -- to get a better sense of whether a sample might be swine flu.
The genetic material first has to be separated, then multiplied using temperature-controlled machines so the scientists can get a closer look. Several hours can be too long to wait before giving a heads up to potentially infected communities, so the city also does a rapid test and delivers more basic results in half an hour.
Still, the city lab tests have stopped short of being able to confirm swine flu -- until now.
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"Tracking down cases, trying to get information as quickly as we can, that's been our biggest challenge so far," said Harper.
To confirm whether a case is actually a swine flu, samples need to be shipped on an airplane to Atlanta to the CDC lab, which can day a take or longer. Right now the city is in the process of upgrading its lab so that the confirmations can be made here, which will take a much shorter period of time.
