Govt. Confirms First US Swine Flu Death
Why
A government official confirmed the death from the new H1N1 swine flu on Wednesday. It is the first death from the flu outside of Mexico, which has been the country hardest-hit by the influenza outbreak. U.S. officials have confirmed 65 cases of swine flu, most of them mild. The acting head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says the confirmed death of a toddler in Texas is a tragic development, but that it's too soon to say just how fast the swine flu virus is spreading. Dr. Richard Besser said Wednesday health authorities had been anticipating that the virus would cause deaths, and said that "as a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family." But Besser said in a nationally broadcast network interview that it's too soon to say if the death in Texas suggests the virus is spreading to more states. Nor would he say whether officials think it will become a nationwide problem. Besser said he didn't believe "this indicates any change in the strain of the flu." Besser also said that "we see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms" and said authorities need to learn more about the threat. No Massachusetts Cases In the Bay State, two Spencer elementary school students who traveled to Mexico last week were tested for swine flu on Tuesday after they complained of flu-like symptoms to a school nurse. Spencer School Superintendent Ralph Hicks said a nurse at the Lake Street Elementary School called the students' mother after they said they were feeling ill. Letters were sent home notifying parents of the students' symptoms. "They weren't that bad. The nurse said they were mild to moderate, they weren't bad, they weren't serious. It wasn't like we needed to call 911," Hicks said. "I think it's good they're notifying the public. It's a safety issue for everybody," one mother said. The children were taken to a private doctor, who collected samples to send away for testing at a national health center. Hicks said he did not know the ages of the children, but he said they are enrolled between grades 1 and 3. Classrooms the students visited during the day were evacuated and cleaned, along with common areas. Additional custodial workers were planning to clean the school overnight, and a bus company that provides service for the town was also going to disinfect its vehicles, according to Hicks. "Which is probably overkill but we want to be safe rather than sorry," Hicks said. Officials in Lowell were also awaiting test results for two siblings who took ill after they visited Mexico last week. The students began to feel sick while they were still on the trip and did not return to school once they returned, according to Lowell Health Director Frank Singleton. Singleton expected to get the results of their tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Tuesday evening. An official from Brockton Hospital who was also vacationing in Mexico last week reportedly became ill and was being tested. An Ontario woman who was on a Boston-bound plane from Mexico Monday reported feeling ill and was taken off the plane and tested. She reported negative for the virus.
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References:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/19320100/detail.html,http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090429_First_U_S__swine_flu_death_reported__U__of_Delaware_has_four_probable_cases.html,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8024394.stm
