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Officials, church looking at others with swine flu symptoms

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TBO.com

Published: July 20, 2009

Updated: 07/20/2009 11:37 am

Hillsborough County Health Department officials today will work with the Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon after a vacation Bible school student turned up with a possible case of swine flu.

Officials plan to be in touch with the church today to determine whether anyone else has come down with flulike symptoms.

One case is almost certain to be the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, said Warren McDougle, the health department's epidemiology program manager.

"We may find out the results today," he said this morning. "There is a 97 percent chance that it is."

He said that others in the vacation Bible school have felt ill. Health department investigators will try to find out today whether those people are afflicted with the swine flu.

"We are working with the church," he said. "They've done everything they needed to do to protect people and themselves."

Last week, church officials asked members with flulike symptoms to stay home. Church officials also sanitized the building where the vacation Bible school takes place.

Members on their way into church Sunday were handed fliers advising them to stay home if they have such symptoms.

Bell Shoals Baptist is one of Brandon's largest churches.

The child with suspected swine flu is recuperating.

Health officials have reported 2,188 confirmed cases of the swine flu virus in Florida, with 96 of those cases occurring in Hillsborough County. Twelve deaths have been attributed to the swine flu virus in Florida.

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