PHOENIX — Arizona has more than enough antiviral medication to deal with the swine flu — at least if people don’t panic — the state’s top health official said Wednesday.

Will Humble said the state has about 58,000 “treatment courses’’ in its own stockpile which it has been storing for years. He said those already have been distributed to local health departments which, in turn, will give it to community health centers and hospitals.

And Humble, the interim director of the state Department of Health Services, said Arizona already has received more than 200,000 new doses from the “strategic national stockpile’’ which is now being repackaged and distributed to county health departments.

“At this point we have (ITALICS) plenty (ROMAN) of medication,’’ he said. And Humble said those 200,000 doses are just 25 percent of what Arizona is entitled to from that national stockpile if the state needs it.

But Bob England, Maricopa County health director, said that doesn’t mean everyone who feels sick — or even has the flu — should rush out and get a shot just because they’re afraid of having this new strain of flu.

“You don’t need to run to the doctor unless you’re having severe enough symptoms that you would have gone to the doctor before all of this news happened,’’ he said. “We don’t need to treat everybody with mild illness with antiviral medication.’’

As proof, England cited the state’s lone confirmed case of swine flu in a child at the Moon Mountain Elementary School in northwest Phoenix.

“This child was already back at school before we ever got this laboratory result,’’ he said. England said the decision to close the school for seven days — the period during which someone exposed to the virus would show symptoms — simply gives other parents a chance to monitor their children and, if necessary, keep them home.

He said future cases are likely to be discovered the same way: samples collected by doctors and hospitals from those they treat will be analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control which, in turn, will notify state officials if they test positive for the swine flu, more technically known as the H1N1 virus.

“I’m certain this isn’t going to be the last case,’’ England said.

“It is behaving like the flu,’’ he explained. “And flu tends to spread around the community pretty efficiently.’’

Gov. Jan Brewer said state government is trying to take a reasoned approach to the situation.

“Certainly, I don’t want the people of Arizona to think we’re blase about the swine flu,’’ she said. “We should take careful and cautious measures to ensure that we are prepared.’’

Brewer said the decision to close the single school fits that definition.

“We don’t want a big panic in Arizona,’’ she said. “But we certainly do take it seriously.’’

England said the fact that H1N1 is essentially a form of the flu means dealing with it pretty much the same as any other variety.

“It’s going to mean hand washing, covering your cough and keeping your hands away from your face,’’ he said.

He also said that face masks do work — especially if worn by those who may be affected.

England said masks don’t filter out microscopic viruses. But he said the disease is spread on droplets when people cough or sneeze, droplets that are big enough to be trapped in a mask.

He acknowledged some of the public concern stems from reports of relatively young and healthy people becoming infected. But he said that pattern is misleading.

“Most of the people who are confirmed (as having the virus) are the people who were getting tested,’’ he said.

“This is going to behave like the regular flu: We’re finding it in places we’re looking for it, where physicians are testing,’’ England continued. “That tends to be often in younger individuals or people with underlying conditions like heart disease, diabetes, things that the doc may worry about their patient a little more.’’

Despite the decision to close that northwest Phoenix elementary school, England said the health department is “nowhere near the point of cancelling group events.’’