North Las Vegas middle school student one of local new flu cases

By Mary Manning

Published Tuesday, May 5, 2009 | 10 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, May 5, 2009 | 7:45 p.m.

The 11-year-old boy who is one of two Clark County residents confirmed to have the new flu is a military dependent and a student at Findlay Middle School, according to Nellis Air Force Base and Clark County School District officials.

The middle school student is recovering and may return the classroom this week, officials said.

The boy is one of the five confirmed cases of new flu the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed in Nevada. There are five pending samples waiting for test results from Southern Nevada.

In a statement released tonight, a Nellis official said the boy was a military dependent and his family members have been tested and found not to have the H1N1 virus.

"This isolated case has had no impact on operations at Nellis or Creech Air Force Bases," the statement said.

“The Air Force, along with all of the armed forces, is monitoring the health of the force to ensure we're taking the necessary precautions to educate and safeguard military and civilian personnel, as well as family members,” Nellis Hospital Commander, Col. Chris Benjamin said in the statement. “The best thing for everyone to do at this time is remain vigilant about personal hygiene and contact their healthcare provider if they have questions, concerns or have been exposed to someone who has contracted the H1N1 virus.”

Three H1N1 virus cases are in northern Nevada: a 2-year-old girl, her mother and a younger sibling. The two Clark County cases are the boy and a 39-year-old woman, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. Although the boy has recovered, the Clark County woman remains hospitalized, but is improving.

Until today, Nevada had one confirmed flu case in Reno, a 2-year-old girl who has recovered.

One of the new Reno flu cases confirmed today is the mother of the 2-year-old girl confirmed last week with the H1N1 virus by the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention lab, said Judy Davis, public information officer of the Washoe County Health District.

The second of the two new Reno cases is a younger sibling of the 2-year-old girl, and did not attend the same preschool as the toddler, Davis said.

Washoe County has three confirmed cases of flu as of today.

"Swine flu cases are occurring throughout the country and while the identification of cases in Clark County is not surprising and is not cause for alarm, it underscores the importance of the public taking the necessary steps to protect their health and prevent the spread of disease," said Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health office of the Southern Nevada Health District.

Sands said neither of the Clark County residents infected had been to Mexico or to any other state reporting flu cases. The two people do not have any local connections between them.

Health District investigators are trying to determine how the boy and the woman contracted the unusual virus with segments of swine, bird and human flu viruses.

The 39-year-old woman had a critical illness that led to her hospitalization, Sands said. She is improving. The Health District learned she became ill on April 24 as part of its ongoing investigation.

The new flu takes two to seven days to incubate and symptoms in most cases are generally mild.

Neither the middle school student nor the woman had traveled or come in contact with anyone with over symptoms of illness, Sands said.

"This is not the first time the disease has been in the community," said Brian Labus, health district chief epidemiologist. Many people will catch the flu, recover and return to normal life without ever seeing a doctor, he said.

Seasonal flu surveillance is underway until the end of May, Labus said. So far 28 tests have been negative for flu, seven cannot be typed and 27 are normal, Labus said.

The five pending cases from Southern Nevada at the federal lab are likely the new flu, Labus said. "These are not the last cases we will find," he said.

The Health District has activated its 3-year-old pandemic plan, Sands said. "It's working very well," he said. Primarily, the health district and other public officials study patterns of illness within the community such as at schools, nursing homes and other public gathering places. So far, no spike has occurred in community illness.

There has been no increased surveillance at McCarran International Airport.

School Superintendent Walt Rulffes said that school and health officials are watching illness and symptom patterns in schools, but have not seen anything on the increase.

A 33-year-old Texas schoolteacher became the first United States citizen to die from the H1N1 flu, health officials said today.

The woman died last week after complications from another illness. She had just given birth and lived near the Mexican border.

The Centers for Disease Control reports today that there are 1,105 probable and confirmed new flu cases in 44 states. There are more than 700 probably cases and 403 cases are confirmed in 38 states.

The average age of flu patients is 16 years with a range of 3 months to 81 years. Of the total number of flu patients identified, 35 have been hospitalized, including the Southern Nevada woman.

Of all U.S. Confirmed cases, 62 percent are under the age of 18 years, and most of them have been mild cases.

Worldwide the flu cases number 1,124 in 21 countries, the World Health Organization said.