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Title: First probable case of swine flu reported in MN; 2 schools closed
Source:
kare11
URL Source: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=659420
Published: Apr 29, 2009
Author: *
Post Date: 2009-04-29 10:18:50 by Rotara
Keywords: None
Views: 126
Comments: 8
Updated: 4 mins ago Swine Flu: What you need to know. Related: Swine flu claims 1st victim in US ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota health officials reported the first probable case of swine flu in the state Wednesday, and local officials closed two schools in the central Minnesota town of Cold Spring as a precaution. In a letter to parents Wednesday, Superintendent Scott Staska said he learned of a probable case of H1N1 novel influenza with an individual from ROCORI Middle School on Tuesday night. The individual was experiencing "flu-like symptoms" according to the letter. Michael Osterholm, a pandemic flu expert at the University of Minnesota, told AP Radio early detection efforts across the country seem to be working. The Minnesota Department of Health advises that general safety precautions be exercised. Infection prevention measures include simple steps such as: First probable case of swine flu reported in MN; 2 schools closed
Pawlenty news conference live.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other officials called a news conference for 9 a.m. to discuss the state's response. Pawlenty news conerence live. Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan, State Epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield and Education Commissioner Alice Seagren were scheduled to be there.
The governor's office said in a statement that the Minnesota Department of Health is characterizing the case as "probable." That means the MDH lab has confirmed the virus as type A H1N1 influenza.
But the governor's office said the strain can't be identified using lab tests available to the department. It said additional testing by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be needed to determine if the patient had the same unusual new strain of influenza that has made people sick in Mexico, several U.S. states and other countries.
Given the way the disease has spread, state health officials had said it was only a matter of time before it showed up in Minnesota.
As a result of the probable case, local officials voluntarily closed the Rocori Middle School and St. Boniface School in the central Minnesota town of Cold Spring, about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
The announcement from the governor's office gave no details on the patient and did not say whether the patient was a student or school staff member, or give the patient's condition.
Staska went on to say that the symptoms were not alarming but the strain was determined to need further investigating by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Health officials are trying to determine if the specific flu strain in this case is H1N1 novel influenza.
Stasks says the closure is a precautionary measure. ROCORI High School, Cold Spring Elementary, Richmond Elementary, and John Clark Elementary schools will remain open on Wednesday.
"I think the public health system has done a lot of work to prepare itself for the early detection of a potential pandemic flu virus in this country and I think that work is paying off," he said.
Osterholm said he wasn't surprised that the U.S. reported its first confirmed swine flu death Wednesday, a 23-month-old boy in Texas.
"I think over the next several days we're going to see a number of severe cases in the United States, and that doesn't fundamentally change anything about this disease at all," he said.
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#1. To: Rotara (#0)
I think a lot of people have already had it this year, and it's nothing special.
Everything lasts and everything ends. Longer than our children could ever imagine, faster than we could ever imagine. Children are the stuff of life; god was right to deny us immortality.
I tend to agree. It's what comes next and the political scientists in the bag for the cabal I'm keeping my eye on. This has been a nice diversion for the bastards though.
I tend to agree. There was some sort of a coughing, hacking, snotty-nose, bug that came through CenTex maybe four to six weeks ago, with no fatalities that I'm aware of...
We experienced something similar during the same time frame.
Does anyone find it interesting that it seems to be hitting in schools?
Schools have always been known 'germ-factories,' but whatever zapped Austin, was much more wide-spread than that. I credit Juice of Wild Oregano w/P73 for keeping me bug-free, knock on wood.
My kids have brought home lots of bugs from school, so no. And where are the hysterical going to focus? The children! Anyway, I'm pretty sure both my wife and my father-in-law have already had it. Three weeks ago she did a birthday party for a bunch of Mexicans and came down with a flu that gave her aches and pains all over, which she has never gotten before. Father-in-law was wiped out for a week, but he's almost 70. Otherwise, it was unremarkable.
Everything lasts and everything ends. Longer than our children could ever imagine, faster than we could ever imagine. Children are the stuff of life; god was right to deny us immortality.
Thought provoking tag, PV. Nice.
#2. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#1)
I think a lot of people have already had it this year, and it's nothing special.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#3. To: Rotara, Prefrontal Vortex, all (#2)
I think a lot of people have already had it this year, and it's nothing special.
#4. To: lodwick (#3)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#5. To: lodwick, rotara, Prefrontal Vortex (#3)
"Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life." — Dr. Richard Lindzen, MIT Professor of Meteorology
#6. To: farmfriend, all (#5)
#7. To: farmfriend (#5)
Does anyone find it interesting that it seems to be hitting in schools?
#8. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#7)
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