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2 cases of swine flu confirmed in Florida

The Associated Press

Samples sent to the CDC came from Pinellas, Orange, Lee, Broward, Alachua and Palm Beach counties, officials said.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 1, 2009

Updated: 05/02/2009 08:48 am

TAMPA - Two confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported in Florida: an 11-year-old boy from Lee County and a 17-year-old girl in Broward County.

Eight suspected samples, including one from Pinellas County, were sent to a federal lab. More than 80 cases were sent to state laboratories across Florida this week, with the eight samples from Pinellas, Orange, Lee, Broward, Alachua and Palm Beach counties sent on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

State Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros said she expects to see more confirmed flu cases crop up over the coming days and weeks. On Friday afternoon, the state declared a state of public health emergency and Viamonte relaxed paperwork restrictions on pharmaceutical companies and drug wholesalers so more flu medicine can be distributed more quickly.

She said the state is asking health care providers to watch for sick people and report cases in which flulike symptoms are present, especially if the patients have been to places where flu has been reported.

The suspected case of swine flu in Pinellas is an adult who had just made a trip to Mexico. The patient did not require hospitalization and was recovering at home, officials said. The name of the patient and what area of the county the person lived was not released.

In the two confirmed cases in Florida, the Lee County boy attends Spring Creek Elementary School; the Broward County girl attends Hallandale High School. The girl last attended school eight days ago and has a history of traveling to Mexico.

The federal government is dispatching one-quarter of the national stockpile of antiviral medication to states, including Florida. Viamonte Ros said Florida has more than a half-million courses of antiviral medication, including Tamiflu, Relenza, pediatric doses and liquid suspension doses for those who cannot take pills.

The state has begun "pushing out" those supplies of antiviral medications as well as safety masks to all counties. Viamonte Ros said the masks are for hospitals and first-responders; at present, the state is not recommending masks for the public.

The Florida Department of Health has set up a hot line to keep the public updated. The toll-free number is 1-800-775-8039. Viamonte Ros also said an information line that is staffed from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. is now open. That number is 1-800-342-3557.

The federal government on Friday issued a series of public service announcements to be aired over local television and radio stations.

Schools focused on prevention

The state is also keeping close contact with school superintendants throughout Florida about the possible shuttering of schools.

As of Friday, no schools had been closed, but the anxiety comes as area districts are preparing to finish up the academic year in the next several weeks.

Graduations. Exams. End-of-year field trips. The Hillsborough County School District is talking with the county health department daily to figure out what to do if the flu surfaces here.

Among the questions is whether to close schools if a student falls ill. But what if that student's sibling attends a different school? And would the district cancel field trips or exam schedules?

"It's too early for us to speculate," said Bill Person, one of the district's emergency planning liaisons. "We'll deal with this successfully, but we're just like everybody else. We're feeling anxious and we have 192,000 students and 30,000 employees."

The district already has sent a letter to parents urging thorough hand-washing in their families and encouraging good hygiene, including coughing or sneezing into a tissue or sleeve.

Hillsborough County school officials are monitoring the local situation, said district spokesman Steve Hegarty.

"Our efforts are focused on the prevention side," Hegarty said.

Carnival modifies cruise stops

Most health experts agree Florida was poised to become one of the growing number of states to report cases. So far, only one death has been reported in the United States, that of a 23-month-old Mexican boy visiting Texas.

Florida's influx of visitors is one reason for the concern. Florida has busy airports, many of which have flights into Mexico, the epicenter of the virus. Cruise ships regularly leave Florida ports, including Tampa, with voyages that take them to Cancun and Cozumel.

On Friday, Carnival Cruise Lines announced that its voyages will not visit ports in Mexico for the foreseeable future. Carnival has two ships that sail out of Tampa.

"Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled all port of call visits in Mexico for 16 of its ships that were previously scheduled to stop in that country," said a statement issued Friday. "Itineraries for vessels departing before May 11 that included stops in Mexico have been modified. In many instances, the modification simply involved substituting an alternate port."

The statement said that passengers who want to back out of their booked trips can get a credit in the form of a future voyage through 2010.

USF sees worried students

Tampa's universities are beginning to mobilize.

Although the University of South Florida has not sent out a campuswide alert to students, it did post information about swine flu on its student health and main USF Web pages. USF health officials say more students have been calling and walking in to clinics worried about the swine flu, but so far, no students have tested positive for the disease.

Hand sanitizers are being handed out at clinics.

Tribune reporters Catherine Dolinski, Adam Emerson and Marilyn Brown, and News Channel 8 reporters Peter Bernard and Samara Sodos contributed to this report. Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

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