Some hospital emergency rooms have seen record-breaking numbers of patients this week as those with coughs, sore throats and fevers  and sometimes no symptoms at all  have sought reassurance that they do not have the deadly H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

Although the pattern is far from universal, the surges have been particularly heavy at children’s hospitals, presumably because the young are so susceptible to respiratory diseases with comparable symptoms. Some hospitals have had to increase staffing and enact specialized triage plans. Waiting times have billowed in some emergency rooms, even for the seriously ill.

In many instances, patients are showing up at hospitals, sometimes referred by their doctors, even though they do not have symptoms, like fever and nausea, that could indicate swine flu.

At San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., none of the 188 patients  a daily record  who arrived at the emergency room on Tuesday had symptoms that met the criteria to even be tested, said Jarrod B. McNaughton, the hospital’s vice president.