DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa public health officials are trying to alert the public that there is no truth to an Internet rumor that the state has instituted a quarantine for the H1N1 flu is untrue.

Polly Carver-Kimm, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said a reporter from Kentucky called the department Monday, asking about something called the “facility quarantine order.”

Carver-Kimm says several other people later called, saying they had also received an e-mailed copy of the order, which reportedly says quarantine in a specific facility is required for people exposed to swine flu.

Carver-Kimm says isolation and quarantine are rarely used — and only in very specific situations. She says Iowa has not issued any isolation and quarantine orders and has no plans to issue any this fall.