2 area girls might have swine flu

6/11/2009

Two students in the same grade at West Side Montessori Center have probable cases of swine flu, although both have recovered, a school official said yesterday.

Both students are girls, one a 10-year-old from Lucas County and the other an 11-year-old from Fulton County, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Health officials are investigating whether the children have swine flu and how they could have contracted it, said Michael Oricko, commissioner of the Fulton County Health Department.

It s not clear in this particular situation, Mr. Oricko said. There are a couple of possibilities.

Dawn Weating, director of operations of the school at 2105 North McCord Rd., said the students apparently had symptoms over the weekend, and school officials were notified Monday. The school s last day for this year was yesterday, she said, and the two students were not in class this week.

We ve been working with the health departments, Ms. Weating said. The timing was such that, just to be on the safe side, they just didn t come back [to school].

Swine flu, formally called influenza A(H1N1), surfaced as a public health threat in April.

The World Health Organization said yesterday that swine flu has sickened 27,737 people in 74 countries, causing 141 deaths.

So far, Ohio has 47 confirmed cases of swine flu, including four in northwest Ohio.

Among them are a 10-year-old girl from Fulton County and a 14-year-old girl from Lucas County, as well as a 20-year-old man in Allen County and a 3-year-old girl in Huron County, according to the state health department.

Michigan, meanwhile, has 418 confirmed cases, with one death in McComb County.

Monroe County has 10 confirmed cases and Hillsdale County has one, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health.