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Nurses Paula Aldrich, left, and Jean Hall refresh their injection technique during an H1N1 flu preparedness summit at the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday.

AUGUSTA — Maine officials aren't sure whether they'll need to confront an H1N1 flu outbreak this fall, but they're still bracing for one.

As they do, they're holding up the responses of several Maine summer camps to the virus as a model for how those in charge of close-quarter, residential facilities can respond.

When campers arrived at Camp Winnebago in Fayette this summer, staff members immediately checked the 160 boys for swine flu symptoms.

"We pretty much lined them up and ran them through the health center," said Andrew Lilienthal, the camp's director.

Lilienthal and his wife, Dr. Laura Blaisdell, discussed Winnebago's response to H1N1 outbreaks Thursday at a state preparedness summit at the Augusta Civic Center.

The conference drew 1,400 attendees, including school nurses, college officials, emergency responders, health care providers and local government representatives.

Lilienthal and Blaisdell, a pediatrician, prepared camp staff to identify swine flu symptoms and constantly remind campers about hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and other good hygiene.

"In many ways, summer camps were the perfect storm for H1N1 this summer," Blaisdell said.

Thirty-six of Maine's 137 residential youth camps reported having campers with swine flu this summer.

That's because school-age children are among the most susceptible to swine flu, unlike the more common seasonal influenza that often afflicts the elderly.

More than half of Maine's swine flu cases have stricken people 25 and younger, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This virus spreads very rapidly in a residential setting with youth," Mills said.

That fact gave urgency to Camp Winnebago's planning for swine flu outbreaks.

"We can't just keep a child home from school" while at summer camp, Blaisdell said. "We were taxed in how we did our housing."

During the campers' initial examinations, three boys showed symptoms, Lilienthal said. Ultimately, one of the boys was infected, forcing the camp's isolation plans into action.

At its peak at Winnebago, swine flu infected 11 campers and two staff members. The camp set up "shadow programs" for those infected, allowing them to remain isolated and still participate in badminton, bocce, swimming and other activities. The infected campers also had alternate meal times.

"The counselor building was sadly given up and cleaned," Blaisdell said. "But we were happy to have a few (infected) staff members with them."

In the end, basic preventive techniques worked at Winnebago, Lilienthal said. The Fayette camp and the 35 others struck by swine flu remained open.

"For us, it was taking temperatures and really knowing the boys and watching them closely," he said.

Rapid isolation, careful planning and constant communication with parents were key to the camp's swine flu response, according to Lilienthal.

"We were happy we were able to find a mild response without taking extreme measures," he said.

Aside from hearing about Winnebago's experience, those who attended the H1N1 summit received coaching on administering vaccines and setting up efficient, user-friendly vaccination clinics.

Others learned about the virus' genetic structure and options for preventing its spread.

Carroll Paradis, a selectman from Wayne, attended to learn about swine flu response resources available to towns.

"Because we don't all have the facilities that a bigger town has, it's more or less education to get together with other resources," he said.