Read the full transcript from Tuesday's chat session with Megan Davies, a state epidemiologist with the state Division of Public Health, about the latest on the swine flu outbreak:

Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
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09:26 MyNC Moderator
Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us. If you would like to personalize the nickname that shows up when you ask a question, just click on the "Edit Nickname" field below the input box. You can change your name if you would like.

09:28 MyNC Moderator
We're about to get started.

09:29 MyNC Moderator
Please welcome Megan Davies, she is an epidemiologist with the N.C. Divsion of Public Health.

09:29 MyNC Moderator
If you have specific questions for Megan, please begin asking them. She'll get to as many of them as she can.

09:30 MyNC Moderator
In the meantime, Megan, can you tell us the most common call/question your department has been getting from the public since the Swine Flu has arrived on our radars?

09:32 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Clinicians are calling about testing their patients for swine flu, and the public are calling about wanting to be tested.

09:32 MyNC Moderator
What steps should North Carolina residents take if they believe they need to be tested?

09:34 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
People who are experiencing flu like symptoms should self-isolate by staying home and calll their doctors for medical advice if they are feeling more than mildly ill.

09:35 MyNC Moderator
Here's a question that one of our readers posted on our article about this chat:

09:37 MyNC Moderator
Do you know how long it takes between the time a person gets infected and the time he or she starts exhibiting symptoms?

09:37 Kelly
If they self isolate, how are they going to get tested? How will we know what the extent of the outbreak is? How will they get the antiviral inside the 48 hour window?

09:38 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Typically it takes 2 to 5 days from exposure to illness. Can be anything from 1 day to 7 days.

09:38 MyNC Moderator
Here's another question from a reader: I am in Mexico and I had "a flu" in March. I don't know which strain of flu it was, BUT if it was the Swine Flu, do I have a natural immunity to catching it again?

09:39 guest20126 jo
If you received the flu shot this year, are you protected?

09:39 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
We have systems in place to testing peope with flu-like symptoms. Additionally, local health departments will be submitting specimens from suspected cases they are following.

09:39 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
We have already received quite a few specimens and anticipate receiving more today.

09:40 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
The antiviral can be prescribed by the medical provider based on clinical picture without laboratory testing.

09:41 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
The questioner who traveled to Mexico should not assume that he or she is immune to this new strain of swine flu. We don't know for sure that prior infection confers full immunity.

09:42 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
More importantly, since that questioner never was formally diagnosed with swine flu, we can't know if she or he has any immunity at all.

09:42 guest453454
Just how "new" is this strain? The symptoms seems so close to seasonal flu, it would seem that this strain could have been around for a couple of months and the only thing "new" about it is the fact that we have now identified it.

09:43 Laura
I am in Mexiso and "a flu" in March. If this indeed was the Swine Flu do I have an immunity now?:

09:44 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
We can't know exactly when this new strain began infecting people, but public health in the US carries out laboratory servillance year round, and this new strain was identified only very recently.

09:46 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
If you really had swine flu, you probably have some immunity, but we don't know how well protected you would be. The epidemiologic data is being collected and analyzed now, but that we won't have the data to answer that for quite a while.

09:46 MyNC Moderator
One reader had a question about the Swine Flu potentially mixing with the H5N1 virus. She wants to know if that's a possibility.

09:47 MyNC Moderator
If it is a possibility, the reader asked "at what point will borders be closed? When will schools be closed?"

09:47 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
It is a remote possibility, but not very likely.

09:48 MyNC Moderator
She also asked: " Shouldn't schools be closed and/or international flights be halted BEFORE we know that a reassortment of this virus has occurred?"

09:48 guest453454
The media are having a field day with this; where do you recommend one would go for the latest information? Does the NC Dept of Health have a website?

09:49 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
This strain of influenza is already infecting people in the US, so there would be no anticipated benefit from border closure.

09:49 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
School closures are being considered. Some locations have closed schools in which there have been cases.

09:50 MyNC Moderator
Another reader just posted this comment on our MyNC story:

09:50 MyNC Moderator
What exactly are the symptoms of swine flu and has anyone in the Raleigh had it? I am very prone to infection and want to know what to look for. I currently have what seems to be a very bad cold or beginning of flu of some sort.

09:50 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
The best website for current information on swine flu is

http://www.cdc.gov

We are updating the ncpanflu.gov website also.

09:51 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Symptoms of swine flu are the same as for seasonal flu--fever, muscle aches, nasal runniness or congestion, sore throat, cough. Swine flu cases sometimes are reporting diarrhea.

09:52 MyNC Moderator
Does anyone else have any questions they would like to ask?

09:52 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
The best way to protect yourself from infection is to avoid sick people and wash your hands frequently.

09:52 Kelly What about the pneumonia vaccine? Why won't healthcare workers allow regular healthy people not in a risk group get the pneumonia vaccine? After all they are the ones getting pneumonia in Mexico.

09:53 guest453454
Any thoughts on why there have been deaths in Mexico and no where else? What differentiates the cases in Mexico?

09:53 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
We do not have any confirmed cases in North Carolina yet. However it is quite likely that this virus would be circulating in NC as it is already in multiple parts of the US.

09:56 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Meanwhile, anyone who fits in one the recommended categories for pneumococcal vaccine should make sure they have had one. (E.g. people with lung disease)

09:56 MyNC Moderator
We're going to wrap up with these final questions.

09:57 guest20126 jo
have you identifed the epi center of this?

09:57 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
We do not yet understand why there have been more deaths in Mexico than the US (none so far in US). The WHO, CDC, and Mexican Ministry of Health are working around the clock to better define the epidemiology and clinical picture there.

09:57 MyNC Moderator
Last chance to get your question in. We're so pleased that Megan Davies could be here to answer some of the questions we've had on our mind.

09:57 guest453454
Thanks for your time today....

09:58 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
At this point, we are more focussed on limiting disease transmission in the US. Where and how the first cases arose will certainly be looked at as time passes.

09:58 Megan Davies, MD, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Thankk you all for your interest. Please stay well!

09:59 MyNC Moderator
Thank you so much for taking the time to be here, Dr. Davies.

09:59 MyNC Moderator
Thank the rest of you for dropping by.

10:01 MyNC Moderator
Tune into NBC17 tonight at 6 or 7 for the latest information. You can also watch the 6 p.m. news right here on this site.