ssanchez, you are right. They have closed the whole school district where the first cases were discovered in Texas. For the minimum of one week.

Just curious... when they're closing high schools, are they also restricting where/if kids hang out together during the day outside of school?

This subject came up in the planning forum I attended, and the gov was still debating how/if to try to limit older kids gathering independently if school was cancelled.


MomCares

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427...wine_flu_states

Swine flu fears close schools in NY, Texas, Calif.

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer – 19 mins ago
NEW YORK – Esti Lamonaca's illness started with a high fever, a cough and achy bones, just a couple of days after she returned from a spring break trip on the beach in Cancun with friends. By the weekend, her voice was hoarse and she was wearing a surgical mask.

The 18-year-old senior is one of at least eight students at her New York City high school who health officials say have been sickened by a strain of swine flu suspected in the deaths of 103 people in Mexico. It has now spread throughout the United States, where authorities have confirmed 20 cases.

However, all of those sickened in the U.S. have recovered or are recovering. That's a stark difference from the lethal outbreak in Mexico that authorities can't yet explain.

Officials at Lamonaca's school, St. Francis Preparatory in Queens, learned that something was wrong there on Thursday when students started lining up at the nurse's office complaining of fever, nausea, sore throats and achy bones. It wasn't long before the line was out the door.

The nurse notified the city Health Department that day. On Friday, more students were getting sick, and the department dispatched a team to the school at about 1:30 p.m. But they got caught in traffic and didn't arrive until 3:30 p.m, just as classes were letting out for the weekend, said Brother Leonard Conway, the school's principal.

By then, there were only a few students left, and health officials quickly tested them for swine flu. While only eight cases are confirmed, more than 100 students are suspected to have been infected. Officials think they started getting sick after some students returned from the spring break trip to Cancun.

The U.S. government declared a public health emergency Sunday to respond to the outbreak, which also has sickened people in Kansas, California, Texas and Ohio. Many of them had recently visited Mexico. Roughly 12 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

Cleaning crews spent Sunday scrubbing down St. Francis, which will be closed for days.

"I haven't been out of my house since Wednesday and am just hoping to make a full recovery soon," Lamonaca said. "I am glad school is closed because it supposedly is very contagious, and I don't want this to spread like it has in Mexico."

Some schools in Texas and California also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.

The outbreak has people on edge across the country.

Officials along the U.S.-Mexico border asked health care providers to take respiratory samples from patients who appear to have the flu. Travelers were being asked if they visited flu-stricken areas.

In San Diego, signs posted at border crossings, airports and other transportation hubs advised people to "cover your cough." At Los Angeles International Airport, Alba Velez, 43, and her husband Enrique, 46, were wearing blue face masks — purely as a precaution — when they returned from a trip to Mexico.

The Los Angeles couple hadn't seen anyone sick while in Guadalajara but were nervous because of the stream of information about new cases. The two were wearing the masks because they're "just cautious," Enrique Velez said.

It was a different story for travelers heading south of the border.

"I'm worried," said Sergio Ruiz, 42, who checked in for a flight to Mexico City after a business trip to Los Angeles and planned to stay inside when he got home. "I'm going to stay there and not do anything."

In Ohio, a 9-year-old boy was infected with the same strain suspected of killing dozens in Mexico, authorities said. The third-grader had visited several Mexican cities on a family vacation, said Clifton Barnes, spokesman for the Lorain County Emergency Management Agency.

"He went to a fair, he went to a farm, he went to visit family around Mexico," Barnes said.

The boy has a mild case and is recovering at home in northern Ohio, authorities said.

In New York, Jackie Casola — whose son Robert Arifo is a sophomore at St. Francis — said her son told her a number of students had been sent home sick Thursday and hardly anyone was in school Friday.

Arifo hasn't shown any symptoms, but some of his friends have, his mother said. And she has been extra vigilant about his health.

"I must have drove him crazy — I kept taking his temperature in the middle of the night," she said.

__________________ 
.
.

Roscoe and Miss Priss 

FoxNews (TV) reporting one confirmed case in Michigan


....I cannot find another source for this online

40 confirmed swine flu cases in US, no deaths: WHO
27 Apr 2009, 2013 hrs IST, AGENCIES

GENEVA: The World Health Organization says there are now 40 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and that it ``very concerned'' about
the disease's spread.

WHO says none of the cases in the U.S. have been fatal. But the U.N. agency says it could decide in a matter of hours whether to raise its pandemic alert level as a result of the increasing number of confirmed swine flu cases in Mexico and elsewhere.

Spain confirmed the first swine flu case outside North America on Monday.

WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said other issues will also be discussed at the Monday emergency meeting chaired by the agency's chief Dr. Margaret Chan.

He said in the Spanish case the disease was transmitted in Mexico and not passed among people in Spain.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...how/4456212.cms

__________________ 
Still, there are some out there that are doing nothing to prepare for a possible pandemic of the bird flu. When Denver resident Jeff ... was asked if he was taking precautions, he replied, "Nothing at all, nah. I don't want to freak myself out." 

Reporter on CNN just said all of the 20 new cases are from the prep school in NYC - so that school alone now has 28 confirmed cases.

I think that the strain in Mexico and the US are the same. The lethality is the same. It is identical. There is no mystery around why no US citizens are dying!

Mexico may have 100,000 cases, of which 1600 are confirmed through a very difficult, expensive, and time consuming test. 80 of those may have died due to complications from H1N1. In the US, 1000 plus people have the flu of which 40 are confirmed. Non of the confirmed have died. It is a numbers game. You cant die of H1N1 unless you are confimed to have it. We are not at that stage yet.

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!!!!!

Mexico is NOT reporting all the cases because most of the sick dont have insurance, money, or the capability to go to a doctor or hospital that does not have the time or resources to handle the sick. Hell, the HCW in Mexico are staying home! It is not a long stretch to see a far bigger number being out there than is reported.

Now we have another problem.... US citizens are being told that it is not a serious illnes and that nobody has (can) die from it - at least not Americans because IT(!?) seems like a different virus that "likes" Americans and will not kill them?! Yea - Right!

We need better data or a more transparant way of seeing what is going on!

It is noon. I'll give it another couple of hours.....

I thought the only samples sent to Atlanta were ones that were untypable A flu - right?

School Closed in South Carolina - Students Being Tested for Suspected Swine Flu

An independent Newberry school is closed today after 13 students and three chaperones returned from a trip to Cancun, Mexico with flu-like symptoms.

A message on the Newberry Academy's Web site (http://www.newberryacademy.com) says an announcement will be made by 3 p.m. on whether school will be closed tomorrow.

All of the students on the April 16-20 trip, plus two others who did not go but have since become ill, were tested yesterday at DHEC for the swine flu, a disease that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico and sickened dozens across the United States.

The students' samples were sent to Atlanta, and school officials hope to hear back today if the illness is the swine flu.

Twelve of the 13 students on the trip have been sick to some degree, said Robert Dawkins, the school's headmaster. Two went to the hospital, but were not admitted. One of the chaperones has had some flu-like symptoms, as have two other students who were not on the trip -- a junior and a senior.

Adam Roberts, an 18-year-old senior who plans to attend USC in the fall, was on the trip. He started feeling ill in the airport on the way back. At school the next day, he said, he felt terrible and slept through all of his classes.

"I went to the doctor and I had a 102 degree fever and my heart was beating out of my chest," Roberts said. "They tested me and told me I had pneumonia. I stayed out of school for a week and I was fine."

Late last week, some doctors in Chapin contacted Dawkins and said the students should be tested for the swine flu. Dawkins gave the doctors the students contact information, and all of them have cooperated, Dawkins said.

Dawkins said the tests and closing the school are just precautionary measures. One student who went on the trip was sick before she left, but decided to go anyway, Dawkins said. And one of the students who did not go on the trip became ill before the students got back.

"That made us think this might not turn out to be the swine flu," Dawkins said.

Since news of the school's closing became public this morning, Dawkins said he has not received any phone calls from concerned parents. The school's prom was Saturday night at the Mid-Carolina Country Club, and all of the students from the trip were there, Dawkins said.

Roberts said he and his friends are not concerned, and were even joking around while they were being tested yesterday. "Nobody's really freaking out that much," Roberts said. "We were just laughing and joking, 'Oh we brought back a disease, how funny.'"

Newberry Academy is an independent school with 250 students, Dawkins said. The school has 63 high school students, including 18 seniors.

http://www.thestate.com/154/story/765267.html

Yes, based on my understanding if they sent the samples to Atlanta it sounds like they found un-typeable (is that a word?) Type A.


MomCares

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

I think this is the first confirmed case in northern California:

Swine flu case confirmed at California school

bystander... I think you're right.


Swine flu case confirmed at {Northern} California school
48 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — A northern California school was closed Monday after a student contracted the deadly swine flu believed to have killed 149 people in Mexico, officials confirmed.

The Sacramento County Public Health officer Glenna Trochet said that St Mel's Catholic School, on the outskirts of the California capital, had been shut after a student was taken ill with flu-like symptoms.

A sample taken from the student which had been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later tested positive for swine flu, Trochet confirmed in a statement.

St Mel's, which has about 275 students, is expected to be closed until Wednesday. The student at the center of the health alert was not identified. Health officials said the student had not traveled to Mexico -- the epicenter of the crisis -- but another pupil had been in the country during the Easter break.

US authorities have confirmed 40 cases of swine flu so far, with several confirmed in California.

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

Except the unusual age pattern of the fatalities.

I agree with you about the numbers, but we need this piece of the puzzle resolved before we can be sure the preliminary assessment is accurate.

Yes but, untypeable (no hyphen) by current common rapid flu screening tests. The strain is technically typeable by other tests. But we know what you meant here.

Thanks for the clarification!

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

http://www.9wsyr.com/content/news/b...QsZNClMa8A.cspx


Cortland (WSYR-TV) – The Cortland County Health Department announced Monday afternoon it was investigating a potential case of the swine flu. There have been no confirmed cases in central New York.

The health department said they have been monitoring the evolving situation with the spread of the swine flu virus. They say they are conducting active surveillance through our community health care providers.

The Onondaga County Health Department said in a press conference Monday afternoon there were no suspected cases of swine flu across the county.

Here's a summary from a bunch of states. The suspected cases in Michigan (one) and South Dakota (two) might be news:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health...lu-states_N.htm

US, Texas: Dallas county health officials confirm swine influenza case in student from Canyon Creek Elementary School in Richardson.

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

New outbreak in San Diego.
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/Portal/N...09swineflu.html
Fifth Local Case of Swine Flu Confirmed
April 27, 2009

A fifth San Diego County resident has been confirmed with a case of swine influenza A (H1N1), according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new case is a 20-year-old male.

That brings to five the number of San Diego residents with swine flu:

* A 10-year-old male (4/21/09)
* A 54-year-old male and his 16-year-old daughter (4/23/09)
* A 7-year-old male (4/24/09)
* A 20-year-old male (4/27/09)

“We are not surprised to see this additional case of human infection with swine influenza because we have heightened our surveillance and put area healthcare providers on alert,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., San Diego County Public Health Officer. “We have no further details about the case at this time as the investigation is ongoing.”

Health and school officials also announce the closure of Christ the Corner Stone Academy in Mira Mesa as a precaution.

“There is some concern about potential illness among contacts, including teachers, of one of the previously confirmed cases,” said Wooten. “The closure is a precaution to make sure the virus does not spread among the school population.”

The County is also about to receive the first shipment of anti-virals from the state and national stockpiles.

“The first batch of anti-virals have been released and is on its way to San Diego County,” said Wooten. “We will be receiving more in the coming days.”

If my understanding is correct,confirmed cases are those the CDC has tested and identified as Swine flu. But there must be many more cases that have not been tested or discovered as yet. Could there be thousands of cases having cold like symptoms but who have not reported to doctors offices or hospitals??
What do some of you think??
MM

MM, That is exactly what I think. Hundreds, anyway, but who knows?

__________________ 
.
.

Roscoe and Miss Priss 

Yup, if it's as contagious as seasonal flu I think there could be, and there are probably lots who have already had symptoms come and go without knowing what they'd had, as apparently happened with the index cases in Nova Scotia.

I'm assuming several clinics, doctors offices and hospitals in the US have been exposed by now.

And I'm guessing the states that had reported lots of seasonal flu activity the week prior to news of the swine flu outbreak might be good places to look for old cases.

If so, that might be a good thing since it might imply that what's circulating here really is milder than what's in Mexico.

But, as always, I could be totally wrong.


MomCares

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

Sacramento has 2 more swine flu cases, California's count rises to 13
Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, April 27, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...7A8Q5.DTL&tsp=1


(04-27) 21:15 PDT Sacramento -- Two more California children were added to the list of confirmed cases of swine flu, Sacramento County health officials said this evening.

The additional children were students at St. Mel School, classmates of a third child who was diagnosed with the flu strain earlier.

A teenage student from the same school, who officials initially thought had contracted the virus during a trip to Mexico, tested negative for the flu virus. That student had become ill and then recovered after returning from his trip.

The two new cases in Sacramento County bring the total to 13 cases of swine flu statewide and 42 in other U.S. states as of Monday evening. {these don't match with current CDC totals, but maybe by tomorrow CDC #s will be updated... the above implies 55 total US cases}

Other children at the school have also exhibited illness in the last few days and medical personnel were evaluating the cases.

Health officials said the two newest swine flu cases in Sacramento County tested positive for Influenza Type A, but they could not be sub-typed to see if they were indeed the swine flu strain.

Nonetheless, the county health officials said they were directed, apparently by the state, to conclude that the cases were indeed swine flu.

"Previously, our procedure was to send specimens that could not be sub-typed to the State Public Health Lab for confirmation of our results, and then to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for testing and confirmation as Swine Flu," Sacramento County health officials said in a statement tonight.

"As of tonight, the California Department of Public Health has expressed such confidence in the technical ability and quality work of the Sacramento County Public Health lab that they have changed the procedure.

"From now on when we are unable to sub-type Influenza-A virus, we have been directed to conclude the test has, in fact, detected swine flu," the statement reads.

Officials were unavailable to answer questions tonight regarding the possible source of swine flu at the school or the new testing procedure at the county health office, but said there will be a media briefing Tuesday.

In addition to the three cases in Sacramento County, there were five confirmed cases of swine flu in San Diego and five in Imperial County.

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

Ernst & Young employee has swine flu -report
Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:44am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/late...s/idUSN28258953


NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Another New York City case of swine flu has been confirmed, striking an employee at the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, CBS News reported late on Monday.

Workers at the company's Times Square offices were notified on Monday that an employee had been diagnosed with swine flu.

The virus has afflicted at least 28 students of a New York City private high school, all of whom were reported to be recovering from mild cases. The school was closed on Monday.

An Ernst & Young e-mail said its employee became ill Sunday after contact with a family member who had been exposed to the virus. It said woman employee had been treated and was resting at home and was doing well.

The employee had not been at work since Thursday. The e-mail said that since the disease has a 24-hour incubation period, it was unlikely that other Ernst & Young workers would be affected but they were given the option of working from home, CBS reported.

Employees of the firm also were told that areas of the building that could possibly have been contaminated had been closed for cleaning, and that anyone who had contact with the affected employee had been so notified.

Swine flu has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and sickened about 2,000 so far, official said. More than 40 mostly mild cases have been diagnosed in five U.S. states, with more expected. There have been no known U.S. fatalities.

Representatives of Ernst & Young could not be reached late Monday for confirmation.

WNBC television reported that New Jersey health officials suspect five probable cases of swine flu in people who recently traveled to Mexico or California. The symptoms are reportedly mild and no one has been in hospital, the station said citing the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

Test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected within two days.


MomCares

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

This is the school where one of the first confirmed cases from last week - a 7-year-old boy - goes. Now 6 teachers at the school are suspected of having the flu - nothing about any other students being tested.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stor...fter-swine-flu/

S.D. school closed after swine flu infects student
Mexico cancels classes nationwide
By Chris Moran Union-Tribune Staff Writer, Maureen Magee Union-Tribune Staff Writer, Bruce Lieberman Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. April 28, 2009

The fallout from the swine flu infections blew into classrooms in California and Mexico yesterday, with a private Lutheran school in San Diego shutting down and all public schools south of the border canceling classes.

San Diego County health officials ordered Christ the Cornerstone Academy in Mira Mesa closed for at least seven days after a 7-year-old boy came down with swine flu and six teachers are suspected of having the illness.

All schools in Baja California and across Mexico were closed yesterday afternoon and will remain so until May 6. Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán said the decision was a preventive measure, and he emphasized there are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Baja California.
Parents found out about the government's order just as they were dropping off their children at school for noon classes.
“I just found out and honestly, I'm worried about the situation because we don't know exactly what's happening,” said Gloria Córdova, 35, whose son is a first-grader at Francisco Madero elementary school in Colonia Cacho, near downtown Tijuana. “We're afraid.”
San Diego County health officials ordered Christ the Cornerstone closed after a student contracted the disease last week. Six teachers at the academy reported feeling ill and are suspected of having swine flu.

The move follows new federal guidelines to close schools where one or more students are known to have the novel flu strain, said Dr. Wilma Wooten, public health officer for San Diego County.
“I'm surprised it's in a little school like this,” said Sue Keller, who was picking up her 10-year-old son, Trevor.
Results of the teachers' flu tests should be ready this afternoon, and Principal Lark Mayeski said the school will be closed “until further notice from the county health department.”
Meanwhile, the school was making efforts to sanitize “every surface imaginable,” including its outdoor playground, said Mayeski, who recently attended classes on preparing for a pandemic.
“I learned to stay calm and listen to what health officials tell us if something happens,” she said. “Perhaps there was a reason God wanted us to be prepared.”
Other schools in the county were taking precautions, but no illnesses were reported.
In Chula Vista, teachers took a moment to remind students to wash their hands, school nurses were asking extra questions when students came to the office not feeling well, and janitors were going through classrooms, bathrooms and cafeterias wiping down desks, doorknobs and computer keyboards.
A few students showed up in surgical masks but took them off soon after arriving, a Chula Vista schools spokesman said.
Parents following the news called schools from Chula Vista to Oceanside to ask whether classes would be in session. They were told “yes” through automated phone calls, curbside conversations, Web page announcements and letters sent home in student backpacks.
Parents picking up their children at Halecrest Elementary School in Chula Vista yesterday afternoon said they were reassured by the phone calls that they received from the district.
“I'm a little nervous about it. It seems like a big deal,” said Jamey Osborn as she waited for her second-grader and fourth-grader to be dismissed. “It sounds like they (school officials) are on top of it as far as being aware and watching out.”
Students throughout the San Diego Unified School District frequented sinks and hand-sanitizing stations. Some arrived in class with their own pump of anti-bacterial gel, along with parental instructions for using it.
“Individuals should be conscientious about washing their hands, not only during this swine flu emergency, but always,” said Carlsbad Superintendent John Roach. “If our nurses spot signs of flu in a student or staff member, they will send them home with a recommendation to visit their doctor.”

CDC Chief Expects More U.S. Swine Flu Cases, Deaths (Update1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...efer=healthcare

Link

Swine Flu Case Confirmed In Orlando
Posted: 10:41 am EDT April 28, 2009
Updated: 11:33 am EDT April 28, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Eyewitness News has learned of Orlando's first confirmed case of swine flu. According to the chief medical officer for Adventist Health System, Loran Hauck, the case was diagnosed Tuesday morning.

"A case was diagnosed here in Orlando today on a tourist from Mexico who came to Disney attractions two days ago to visit," Hauck wrote in an email obtained by Eyewitness News.

No further details have been released, but Eyewitness News is working to learn specifically what days the tourist was at the parks and which park the tourist went to.

Details about the tourist, beyond being from Mexico, have not been released.

Eyewitness News contacted the Orange County Health Department late Tuesday morning. They said they were unable to confirm the report.

Disney told Eyewitness News late Tuesday morning that they have not received any confirmation about a swine flu case involving a guest.

Link


WISH-TV reported that the infected person is a young adult from northern Indiana. It was not immediately learned where exactly the person lives.

Public health officials advised Indiana residents to go on with regular precautios against the flu.

"We advise Hoosiers to practice normal precautions to avoid influenza and other respiratory diseases, such as frequent hand washing and covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze," Monroe said.

At 8 a.m. on Tuesday the Department of Health implemented it's emergency operation facility, WISH reported.

Monroe said the case had been confirmed in testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency said Sunday that it had sent two flu specimens for tests by the CDC. The agency said the flu specimens did not match other strains that Indiana has seen this year.

This makes a total of 51 cases of swine flu reported so far in the United States. None have yet been reported in Illinois.

Link


The latest number comes a day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced there were 17 probable cases from the St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows. It's not yet clear if those cases were upgraded to confirmed or if there were an additional 17 cases announced on Tuesday. Twenty-seven students and one teacher from the school had already been treated for the virus.

Meanwhile, accounting giant Ernst & Young was a bit overzealous in their reporting of an employee who had apparently contracted the swine flu virus on Monday night, CBS 2 HD has learned.

The New York City Department of Health and the CDC both confirmed Tuesday morning that the firm's initial claim was erroneous and that the worker does not have the virus.

Ernst & Young officials evacuated and closed off a section of its office in Times Square for disinfection after the sick employee was mistakenly diagnosed with the virus. The news created a scare throughout the city, prompting both the health department and the CDC to determine whether a new outbreak was in fact taking place.

"Although we believe the risk of contracting the flu is very low," the internal company memo said, which was released Tuesday night after news spread of the alleged contraction, "employees should feel free to work at home or off-site."

The DOH said no updates would be given until Mayor Bloomberg's 1:30 p.m. presser. Ernst & Young has not commented on the report.

The concerns over the swine flu outbreak continue to grow however. New cases are being investigated across the tri-state, including five probable cases in New Jersey, and drugs to help ease the symptoms may be dwindling.

The epicenter of the outbreak is in Mexico and many of those showing symptoms around the world recently travelled there. Six states in the U.S. are reporting confirmed cases.

The St. Francis Preparatory School, which has been the ground zero of our local outbreak with 28 cases and 17 probable cases, remained closed on Tuesday. Teachers and students, including both of Karen Santucci's children, have fallen ill.

"My daughter was quite bad. The whole day she had a very high fever which needed cold compresses," said Karen Santucci.

Her son Anthony described his symptoms to CBS 2.

"I felt really weak. I was coughing a lot. I had a high fever. I was dizzy," said Anthony. "My head hurt, I had flu-like symptoms."

Did New York City drop the ball in its response? Mayor Bloomberg says not a chance.

"By the time we knew there was a problem at St. Francis, anyone at the school who was going to be infected, probably already was," said Bloomberg.

And that's what Health Departments across the tri-state region are facing: a game of catchup. New Jersey officials say they're monitoring five new suspected cases of the fast moving flu. And the World Health Organization says beyond Mexico there are at least 79 other cases world wide.

Officials urged Americans against most travel to Mexico as the virus that began there spread to the United States and beyond.

President Barack Obama urged calm, saying there was reason for concern, but not yet "a cause for alarm."

Yet just in case, administration officials said that they were already waging a vigorous campaign of prevention, unsure of the outbreak's severity or where it would show up next.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38e4482a-...?nclick_check=1

US confirmed cases now at 64

Possible new cases probed at second Queens school

Possible new cluster at an elementary school about 2 miles from the known prep school cluster.

Two L.A. County deaths possibly related to swine flu, coroner says [Updated]

9:09 AM | April 28, 2009

The Los Angeles County coroner's office is investigating two recent deaths that officials say could be related to the recent global swine flu outbreak. However, no tests have come back positive for the swine flu, and medical examiners have not officially determined what caused the deaths.

[Updated at 9:30 a.m.: Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said his office would collect specimens from the deceased and send them to the county public health department, which would determine whether either person died from the swine flu. If so, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be notified, Harvey said.]

Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said Bellflower Medical Center reported the death of a 33-year Long Beach resident Monday afternoon from symptoms resembling swine flu.

"It's that diagnosis that needs to be confirmed," Harvey said. "An autopsy will be performed to establish the cause of death."

The man was taken to the hospital Saturday, complaining of shortness of breath and lymphoma. Doctors later diagnosed the patient with pneumonia, Harvey said.

The second case involves a 45-year-old man from La Mirada, whose death was reported Monday to the coroner's office. The man died April 22 at Coast Plaza Doctor's Hospital in Norwalk.

Doctors said the man died of pneumonia but the L.A. County Health Department refused to accept the death certificate signed by the private doctor, Harvey said. The case was then referred to the coroner's office, which will conduct further investigation.

If confirmed, the deaths would be the first reported in the United States from the swine flu.

-- Andrew Blankstein

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...roner-says.html

Edit: I just saw this posted in a seperate thread, well.. nevermind.

Two hospitalized in New York City with suspected swine flu

By Sara Kugler


Associated Press


Posted: 04/28/2009 11:35:29 AM PDT
Updated: 04/28/2009 11:40:42 AM PDT


NEW YORK — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says two people are hospitalized with suspected swine flu.

City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden also said Tuesday that "many hundreds" of schoolchildren are sick with suspected cases of swine flu.

Bloomberg says the hospitalizations are separate from the outbreak at a private school in Queens.

If they are found to be swine flu they would be the first in the U.S. connected to the outbreak.

The mayor says the hospitalized are a child in the Bronx and an adult in Brooklyn.

The U.S. has more than 60 reported cases of swine flu, mostly in New York City. The sickness has killed dozens in Mexico.

‘Many hundreds’ of kids may have swine flu

Many hundreds" of schoolchildren are sick with suspected cases of swine flu, said New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.

Also Tuesday New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said two people are hospitalized with suspected swine flu. He said the hospitalizations are separate from the outbreak at a private school in Queens.

The mayor says the hospitalized are a child in the Bronx and an adult in Brooklyn.


Across the country, the Los Angeles County coroner's office was investigating the recent deaths of two men, 33 and 45 years old, for links to swine flu. Coroner's Capt. John Kades said the bodies were being tested but that there has been no confirmation the disease killed them.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency that will help California agencies coordinate efforts in response to the outbreak of swine flu.

The virus has killed more than 150 people in Mexico, but there haven't been any confirmed swine flu deaths in the United States.

Health officials say the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States has jumped to 68.

The new count includes "at least five who had to go into the hospital," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The hospitalizations include three in California and two in Texas.

The cases are currently in six states. There are 17 new cases in New York City, four more in Texas and three additional cases in California. That brings the total confirmed cases to 45 in New York City, 13 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas, one in Ohio and one in Indiana.

For days, CDC officials have said they expected to see more confirmed cases — and more severe illnesses. Health officials across the country have stepped up efforts to look for cases, especially among people with flu-like illness who had traveled to Mexico.

CDC is moving forward aggressively with plans to produce a vaccine to protect against the new strain of swine flu, said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, during a Tuesday press conference. Scientists have started growing the ‘seed stock’ of virus that forms the basis of a vaccine.


“Moving forward, vaccine is something we are looking at very intently,” he said.

Besser urged people with confirmed cases of swine flu to stay home, and said their family members should stay home, too.

That effectively is a call for voluntary isolation for households in which the virus has been detected.

“I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection,” Besser said, although he noted that he hadn’t heard of the suspected deaths in California.

A handful of schools around the country have closed over swine flu fears and some people are wearing masks, but it’s mostly business as usual in the U.S., even at border crossings into Mexico.

While Asian countries deployed thermal sensors at airports to screen passengers from North America for signs of fever, there have been no extra screenings at the U.S. border with the country considered ground zero for the outbreak.

No deaths have been reported in the U.S. so far. In contrast, there have been over 150 deaths in neighboring Mexico, ground zero for the illness.

World health officials said they suspect American patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the U.S. Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said WHO was waiting for U.S. authorities to announce that a number of students at a New York high school have passed the virus on to one another after their return from a spring vacation in Mexico. “I think we might have one other instance in the U.S.,” he said.


President Barack Obama on Monday characterized the U.S. cases as a cause for concern but not "a cause for alarm." The federal government said travel warnings for trips to Mexico would remain in place as long as swine flu is detected.

The Obama administration on Tuesday defended its "passive surveillance" policy to deal with the threat, saying that it's measured, cautious border monitoring makes sense.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that more draconian enforcement steps are not yet necessary, even as she acknowledged that officials "anticipate confirmed cases in more states." She reiterated President Obama's stance that people are justifiably concerned but need not be alarmed by it.

"We anticipate that there will be confirmed cases in more states as we go through the coming days," Napolitano said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday.

Napolitano assured of a "very broad multi-agency federal response" and said that she and a number of Cabinet members had met into the night Monday to discuss strategy. She also said the administration wouldn't wait for a World Health Organization declaration of a pandemic to deliver a pandemic-like response.

Noting that the international health body has elevated its pandemic alert status to Level 4 of a 6-step process, Napolitano said: "We're prepared as if there were a pandemic. We're not waiting."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday that this hybrid flu — with pig, bird and human genetic components — has "pandemic potential."

"This is a brand new virus that we've never seen before," he said. " But what we're focusing on is to contain the spread of this."

While the virus has killed people in Mexico, but so far, not in the U.S., it's too soon to say that it won't, said the CDC's Schuchat.

"I think we're at early days here at what we're seeing in the U.S.," she said. "I don't think we can be confident we won't see severe spectrum of disease here."

In the immediate future, cases may begin to level off and dwindle, but then return during the tradition flu season in the fall and winter, as the 1918 flu did, Schuchat said.

"We might see an improvement just like we do with the seasonal flu but we need to be aware this strain is out there and it might come back in the fall," she said. "We're preparing the country for a period of uncertainty and a commitment that we'll stay with you."

Scattered protective steps
Scattered protective steps were being taken across the U.S. A few schools were closed — in Cibolo and New Braunfels, Texas; Claremont and Mira Mesa, Calif.; and Columbia, S.C. — and residents of Guadalupe County, outside San Antonio, were asked to avoid public gatherings and stay home if they are ill.

Security guards at all entrances of the University of Chicago Medical Center required anyone walking in to use a liquid disinfectant. At Rush University Medical Center, anyone seeking treatment for fever, runny nose and coughs was being tested for flu with nasal swabs.

Elsewhere, there were signs of growing unease among the public, even in places where there was no immediately known cause for alarm.

Pharmacies in Manhattan reported that paper face masks were selling by the box. One pharmacy owner said he had to order more from his wholesale supplier for the first time since the SARS epidemic six years ago.

CDC conference indicates 5 more hospitalizations:

12:46–Three hospitalized in CA, two in Texas, media age is 16. Incubation period in US is 2-7 days, typical for a flu virus.

live blogger link

So, Mr. Bloomberg, might we consider shutting down more schools any time soon?


MomCares

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

From Veratect Twitter...

US, Connecticut: East Haddam Public School to close over "concerns" of swine influenza after two students fall ill after trip to Mexico.

__________________ 

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Don't anthropomorphize viruses. They hate that.

 

East Haddam, CT.

That's pretty close to Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, (casinos). All it would take is for some kid to come home sick whose parent deals blackjack at the casino and you've got a super spreader.

The WHO was right about one thing.....this IS the turning point.

Do we know WHERE in Texas ??

Tee

They didn't say yet, as far as I know.