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The first confirmed case of swine flu in Ohio has been found in a 9-year-old Ely Elementary School third-grader. The school will be closed all week, Superintendent Paul Rigda said late Sunday night.
The boy, whom officials did not identify, traveled to Mexico during spring break. While there, he spent time at a farm, a fair, a couple of different cities and in Mexico City, according to Elyria City Health District officials.
He got back from the trip last Monday and started having symptoms Wednesday. He went to EMH Regional Medical Center in Elyria on Friday with an elevated temperature and cold- and flu-like symptoms, Elyria City Health District Commissioner Kathryn Boylan said.
After learning about the symptoms and the family history, hospital officials decided it could be a case of swine flu.
A specimen was taken to the Ohio Department of Health lab and forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control, Boylan said.
Officials were notified Sunday morning that it was a confirmed case of swine flu.
“The child is doing just fine,” she said.
“And so for that, we are extremely grateful.”
The child, who is taking the antibiotic Tamiflu, is resting at home, officials said.
None of the other immediate family members have any symptoms, but they are taking medication as a precaution.
Elyria City Schools Superintendent Paul Rigda said officials originally did not plan to close Ely, which has about 350 first- through sixth-grade students.
However, the Elyria City Health District later got an advisory from the CDC that there could be a longer incubation period than what was originally thought, Rigda said.
Officials did not want the kids to be together for at least one week after the first case might have created the exposure to the illness. As a result, the school will be closed all week. The closure only applies to Ely.
“This is not a result of any new cases at all,” he said about the decision to close for the week.
He added the decision was just a precaution.
The district used its phone alert system to inform parents about the news, Rigda said. They sent one message to the parents of Ely students and a different message to parents with children at the other schools.
A letter with more information also will be sent home, he added.
Volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team headed out Sunday to relay the information to families who could not receive the phone message, said Tom Kelley, director of Lorain County Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Boylan said that if students from Ely have a sore throat, elevated temperature or other flu-like symptoms, they should consult a doctor or go to the emergency room and say they might have been in contact with the student who has swine flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines swine flu as “a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs.”
There was one other case in the county where a person went to Mexico and had flu-like symptoms, said Douglas McDonald, the medical director for the Elyria City Health District. However, the preliminary tests were negative.
The symptoms of swine flu are similar to the regular flu and include a fever of 102 to 103 degrees, runny nose, nasal congestion, coughing, sore throat and lack of appetite, according to information from the Lorain County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Swine flu is contagious and can be spread either by people or through contact with infected pigs or in environments that are contaminated with the swine flu viruses, according to information provided by emergency officials Sunday.
It cannot be transmitted by eating pork.
There is not a vaccine for swine flu, but there are medicines to treat it. The seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against swine flu.
EMH spokeswoman Kristen Davis confirmed that the hospital does not currently have any patients with confirmed swine flu and no one there is exhibiting those symptoms.
“Our ER staff is getting supplies available for testing, making them readily accessible and going through the process to increase staff if we do need to do that” in the event that more cases come about, she said.
Jennifer Kennedy, director of marketing and communications for Community Regional Medical Center in Lorain, said no one has come into their hospital with any symptoms.
“Our entire staff has been notified about the signs and symptom of swine flu, and they’re taking the proper precautions,” she said.
“We feel prepared.”
Emergency officials have set up a hot line that people can call with questions. That line, 440-324-3177, will be staffed through at least 11 a.m. today with public health nurses.
