County health departments across North Carolina are already warning health care providers about how to control a Swine Flu pandemic if it makes it to the Tar Heel State.

"We have sent blast faxes to physicians to let them know what they need to be looking for in terms of symptoms and should they find somebody presenting with the symptoms," said Gayle Harris, Durham County's Health Director. "We tell them what they need to do to collect the samples appropriately and we'll get them to the state so they can be analyzed."

Right now Durham County and others across the state are in surveillance and education mode.

"I know that the State Health Director, Jeffrey Engel, has said that there are some suspected cases and that he will not have confirmation as to whether it's swine flu until Wednesday," Harris said. "What we can do is to tell people to practice good hand-washing. Wash your hands before and after you eat before and after you go to the bathroom."

Harris stresses that if the Swine Flu pops on in North Carolina, people should stay home if they start feeling sick.

"If they're very ill or have temperature elevations, they need to call their physicians and get guidance," Harris said. "If people have swine flu - we don't want them running to the emergency department or to the doctor's office and breaking infection control measures."

Once the state gets test results in, the Durham County Health Department will meet with its healthcare members to see which direction they all should take.

"We'll call all our partners together ... in fact I think we have a meeting planned for early next week, if not this week," Harris said. "We will look at where we are, what are plans are, what the next steps are to keep each other informed and establish a communication plan."

Harris said planning in the past should allow doctors and hospitals to be prepared for a pandemic, if it happens.

"We've really been preparing for a pandemic influenza for several years now," she said. "The lessons that we've learned as a result of our partnering around the events that came into being after 9/11 have gotten us into the mode of being able to work together to address issues."