State health officials are preparing for another possible H1N1 virus outbreak, according to the state epidemiologist.
""We don't know for sure if there will be one … but our preparations will continue as if there will be,"" state epidemiologist Tom Haupt said.
Cases of H1N1 spiked in Wisconsin in early September and again in mid-October of last year. Since then, numbers of reported cases have steadily declined, according to a report released by the Wisconsin Department of Public Health.
""We really don't know what to expect, but we're going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,"" Haupt said.
The report listed activity of influenza in Wisconsin as ""sporadic."" Flu-like illnesses in Dane County have hovered around 2.5 percent since late November.
University Health Services Executive Director Sarah Van Orman said the UW-Madison campus has seen very little H1N1 activity this semester.
""We actually enhanced our surveillance [of H1N1] in the first couple weeks of the semester, and we have had no positive cultures so far,"" Van Orman said.
According to Van Orman, UHS has vaccinated 9,000 people for H1N1, which likely limited virus activity. Many students also received the vaccine while they were home over winter break.
Van Orman said vaccines are still available by appointment at UHS.
""We still encourage people to get vaccinated. We may not be out of the woods,"" she said.
