People who develop flu-like symptoms are being asked to stay at home for a minimum of seven days and also until one full day after the symptoms subside.

That’s the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, which is working to prevent transmission of the swine flu, a new strain of flu virus for which vaccines offer no protection.

So far the swine flu outbreak nationwide has been attributed to two confirmed deaths, CDC officials said in a news conference. The most recent statistics, from 11 a.m. this morning, show a total of 896 laboratory confirmed cases of the swine flu virus in 44 states.

The swine flu is showing a tendency of affecting younger people than other strains of the flu virus, CDC officials have noted. The median age of those infected with the swine flu is 15 years old, but it has been seen in people ranging from 1 month to 87 years old, CDC reported.

Some 58 percent of the confirmed swine flu cases are affecting patients under the age of 18 years old, CDC has said.

Of the 896 cases in the United States, only about 10 percent have involved people who have recently traveled to Mexico, where the outbreak has been more serious and resulted in schools and businesses closing in order to prevent transmission of the virus.

States are allowed to determine their priority for testing potential swine flu victims, but in general one of the top priorities is for certain types of hospitalized patients because they may be more susceptible to the flu, officials said.

The CDC and its partner agencies are continuing to work on developing a possible vaccine for the Swine Flu and are also conducting various scientific studies on this unique, new variant of influenza, officials said.

Those studies will be looking at, among other issues, how long it takes victims to get rid of the virus and how long an antiviral medicine might shorten the swine flu. Also under study will be the development of a rapid diagnostic test and how the virus is transmitted among members of the same household.

Some states are reporting a backlog of tests at this point, so the statistics on swine flu infections may be a little further behind what the reality is, officials have said.

In the meantime, officials are still recommending people agressively follow several procedures to avoid becoming infected:
• Stay away from sick persons;
• If you are sick, stay home instead of going to school or work;
• Cover coughs with a tissue and quickly throw it away; and
• Frequent hand-washing or use of antibacterial gel.