Swine Flu in Houston

Apparently the Swine Flu is here to stay in Houston. From the Chronicle this morning…

Houston area gets its first local swine flu patient

Three Houston schools aren’t holding classes this morning, shut down in an attempt to prevent the spread of a swine flu outbreak that has spread to at least one area resident and claimed the life of a Mexico City toddler transported here for care.

A Fort Bend girl confirmed with the area’s first known case was treated over the weekend — she was not hospitalized — and has recovered, said Fort Bend County health department officials. She attends Episcopal High School in Bellaire, which announced Wednesday evening it will close starting today and at least through the weekend.

The Houston Independent School District has two “probable” but unconfirmed cases of swine flu, one involving a 9-year-old girl from Harvard Elementary and the other a 14-year-old girl at Hamilton Middle School, a district official said late Wednesday. Both are in the Heights area.

Harvard Principal Kevin Beringer and HISD officials were stationed outside the school before its scheduled 7 a.m. opening time this morning. They talked to parents and distributed pamphlets about the situation.

The schools will be closed until further notice from the health department, according to district spokesman Norm Uhl, who said the district will hold a news conference this morning on the situation.

The troubling part is that the girl in Fort Bend county isn’t able to be clearly linked to any previous case of the flu. That’s certainly not a good sign. I am glad to see a significant effort to close the schools those kids attended, there’s no sense in helping the disease along.

Around the nation this kind of caution seems to be widespread. CNN reports that about 100 school are closed today nationwide due to recorded or potential Swine Flu incidents. Local businesses seem to be preparing for the same.

The frustrating thing about this, and the spread of any other airborne disease, is that there’s really very little that can be done to stop it short of placing the entire country under house arrest. That’s not going to happen, so the best we can hope for is closures of the ‘prime’ spreading areas (schools) and increased attention to personal hygeine. Then, as with most viruses, we get to wait it out. One glimmer of good news, the virus only takes 1-7 days to incubate. In other words, if you catch it, you’ll have syptoms right away, and you can react appropriately (ie. DON’T GO TO WORK!). This thing would be much worse if it took 2-3 weeks to mainfest

For those who are interested, CNN put together a list of Swine Flu FAQ’s that I found helpful. It’s worth a look.

Stay healthy out there! And if you’re sick, STAY HOME!