May 05, 2009 State Officials Announce Six More Suspected H1N1 Flu Cases Identified in La.CDC-Confirmed H1N1 Cases Remain at Seven

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BATON ROUGE State officials are now investigating six new suspected cases of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, including three cases in Lafourche Parish, one case in Lafayette Parish, one in Iberia Parish and one in St. Martin Parish. This brings the total number of suspected cases currently under investigation in Louisiana to 27. None of the 27 cases are in the hospital.

 Samples of the six new suspected cases tested positive for type A Influenza, which could indicate either seasonal or the H1N1 virus. The H1N1 virus subtype is confirmed by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab tests. Specimens for all suspected cases have been sent to the CDC lab in Atlanta for confirmation. The CDC is telling states to expect a high rate of confirmations, as they are confirming the H1N1 virus in 99 percent of cases sent to them for testing.

 The six new suspected cases include three cases in Lafourche Parish: two are adults and one is a child who is not in school; one case involves an adult in Lafayette; one is a student in Iberia Parish who attends Catholic High School in New Iberia (which officials are not recommending for closure, due to no other known illnesses at the school and in accordance with the updated CDC guidance); one case involves an adult in St. Martin Parish.

 LDH Secretary Alan Levine said, “Given the information we are collecting on the ground that indicates other students are not sick at the school, and in accordance with the CDC’s updated guidance today, we do not see the need to close Catholic High School in Lafayette related to this newest suspected Iberia Parish case. We continue to base our recommendations along the best and newest guidance from the CDC and the best information available to our state epidemiologists on the ground. Today, we also notified officials in the effected parishes of the updated guidance the CDC recently released related to school closures.”

 The state lab has received 1,084 specimens since the first presence of the H1N1 virus and a total of 554 specimens have been tested.

 SUSPECTED H1N1 CASES

TOTAL – 27

 CDC-CONFIRMED H1N1 CASES

TOTAL – 7

 CDC-NEGATIVE H1N1 CASES

TOTAL – 2

 CDC Announces New Guidance for Schools Today 

The CDC issued new guidance today for schools and childcare facilities on responding to human infections of H1N1 virus. Among the CDC’s revised recommendations are:

 To read the complete CDC revised guidance for schools and childcare centers, please visithttp://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu.

 Protecting Your Family

Make sure you:

Symptoms of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) include:

 

Visit www.FluLa.com for the latest information on the H1N1 virus.

 

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Surgeon General Ralph L. Abraham, M.D.

Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein

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