16 swine flu cases confirmed in Nevada

By Mary Manning

Monday, May 11, 2009 | 4:05 p.m.

Nevada has 16 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, also known as swine influenza, with Clark County counting nine of those cases, health officials said today.

The cases of the unusual H1N1 flu across the United States continue to climb and there have been three deaths confirmed. No deaths have occurred in Nevada.

The Clark County samples were confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the state public health laboratory.

There are six more Clark County samples pending tests.

The most recent cases include five school-age children, said Stephanie Bethel, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Health District. They include a 4-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl, a 13-year-old boy and two 16-year-old boys. In keeping with CDC guidelines, closing schools has not been recommended, Bethel said.

The students became ill between April 28 and May 3. Each child had a mild illness and recovered.

The other patients are a 24-year-old man who had a mild illness and a 40-year-old woman who also had a mild form of the flu. Both adults have recovered. The woman had been in contact with the 4-year-old child.

Southern Nevada's first reported confirmed cases occurred in an 11-year-old boy who has recovered and a 39-year-old woman who was hospitalized and has since been released and is recovering, Bethel said.

To date nearly 99 percent of probable H1N1 influenza cases were confirmed as positive through the Centers for Disease Control laboratory.

The Nevada cases also include four in Reno, two in Carson City and one case in Lyon County, federal and state health officials said today.

Nationwide, cases climbed to 2,618 in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Confirmed cases in this country may be "the tip of the iceberg," Schuchat said.

"We do think the number of cases are under-reported," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

There are three confirmed deaths in the United States, one reported over the weekend in Washington state and two in Texas, Schuchat said.

"We know this virus is circulating in our communities and we don't know what will happen in the fall," Schuchat said. Flu cases in the United States have not dropped off much and about 40 percent of cases reported in the week ending May 8 have been attributed to H1N1, a novel virus containing swine, bird and human flu viruses, she said.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by type A influenza viruses. While it may have started in swine as early as the mid 1980s in the United States, it now can spread between people who have no contact with pigs. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating well-cooked pork.

Between 2005 and January 2009, 12 human cases of swine flu were detected in the United States with no deaths reported.