The swine flu continues to spread in Kenosha County, but for most victims the symptoms of the illness are relatively mild.

According to the Kenosha County Health Department, there have been around 130 reported cases of H1N1 flu in the county, with more than 4,200 statewide.

However, since early June doctors have been operating under new guidelines from the state and from the Centers for Disease Control that do not require testing in many cases. Instead, doctors are encouraged to treat patients with symptoms of the illness with medication rather than doing formal testing.

Because of the change in testing requirements, there are likely more cases of the illness than numbers suggest.

“It’s widespread,” said Cynthia Johnson, assistant director of the Kenosha County Health Department.

Johnson said the number of people infected with swine flu is continuing to grow despite the season — typically the summer months are a slow time for influenza infections. She said the median age for people diagnosed with the illness in the county is 8.

When the swine flu outbreak began several months ago, health officials were concerned the illness could become a deadly pandemic. While the virus has spread worldwide and has now been reported in more than 70 countries, the flu strain has proved far milder in its symptoms than feared.

“Initially they were using caution because it was a new, novel virus,” Johnson said.

She said the theory in the medical community is that older people may have some immunity to the virus because of similar outbreaks in 1958 and 1977, but younger people are more susceptible,

There have been deaths associated with the illness, including four in Wisconsin and 127 nationally, according to the CDC. However, the death rates are lower than those of more typical flu outbreaks, Johnson said. In an average year, 36,000 people die from typical flu virus in the United States.

Andy Johnson, spokesman for Aurora Healthcare, said the health-care company has not been seeing unusual numbers of flu cases at its hospitals or clinics. According to the CDC, the majority of people with swine flu recover without any medical treatment.