×
×
homepage logo
STORE

Cape has two swine flu cases

By Staff | May 8, 2009

Six Lee County cases of H1N1 have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control. Three of those cases are new, two from Cape Coral and one from Lehigh.
Of the Cape residents, one is a school-aged child, and the other an adult female.
Nor the Lee County Health Department nor the School District have confirmed the age of the child, or where he or she attended school.
School District Spokesman Joe Donzelli said the district plans on handling this case much in the same way as the three confirmed cases at Spring Creek Elementary in Bonita Springs.
The school district sent home letters to parents of children who attend the same school as the newly discovered child. The school also will be sterilized over the weekend. As of Friday, there were no plans to close the school, or to immediately release the name of the school to the general public.
“We’re not releasing the name of the school,” Donzelli said. “The district will approach it the same way we did Spring Creek, but we will not be closing down the school.”
LCHD spokeswoman Jennifer James-Mesloh said the those who have been newly identified are “doing fine,” exhibiting only mild symptoms, comparing it to “seasonal flu.”
She added the Cape child was kept out of school by his parents while awaiting test results.
“The beneficial thing with the student case was the parents did keep that child home from school,” James-Mesloh said. “While they waited for confirmation they followed medical advice and heeded early information.”
There are still 49 cases that are pending at state laboratories. There are none with the CDC in Atlanta.
James-Mesloh said tests will no longer be done at the CDC, as Disease Control officials have sent testing kits to all four Florida state labs.
Even with H1N1 exhibiting mild symptoms in Lee County and most of the United States, health officials are still urging use of the same hygiene precautions.
The name of the Cape Coral school where the confirmed student attended should be released early next week.