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In Texas the swine flu (known as H1N1) has been very mild with not many confirmed cases. But the only deaths in the United States have been in Texas.
H1N1 in Texas at this time does not seem to be any worse than the seasonal flu with most confirmed cases occurring among people who have recently traveled to Mexico.
As of May 5th, there have only been 40 confirmed cases but there is the possibility of other unconfirmed cases. There are several school districts closed as health officials had at first advised if there is only one reported case in a school, the whole school should be closed for a week to ten days. They did this as a precaution since this flu seemed to mostly spread in the younger and healthier populations. As of today which is May 6th, because of the mildness of most cases, all the schools are currently re-opening.
No public events have been cancelled and the border between Texas and Mexico is still open. Many grocery and drug stores report that hand sanitizers are sold out as health officials have stressed the importance of washing hands frequently. The Texas Health Department has received part of the US stock pile of flu testing kits as well as anti-viral drugs.
In Texas there has only been two confirmed deaths. The first was that of a 22 month old boy from Mexico City who died in a Houston area hospital. The boy had several underlying health related problems. He had traveled with his family to visit in Brownsville, Texas which is across the Texas-Mexico border. The boy developed a fever and other flu symptoms and was admitted to Brownsville hospital and was then transferred to the Houston facility where he died. Health investigators are unsure if he had the infection before his trip or was infected on the flight from Mexico to Matamoros. No one in the child’s family has become ill. The second death was announced yesterday May 5th and it was of a 33 year old teacher who lived and taught in a town near the Mexican border. She had recently given birth to a new baby and was reported to have other underlying health problems.
The Texas confirmed cases began in late April of this year, at the end of what would normally be the flu season. This was after Mexico began reporting a large number of cases of flu like illnesses. Because of the number and the lateness of the year for these types of symptoms, Mexican health professionals began testing patients and identified this new strain of swine flu. The majority of these cases were reported in the area of Mexico City which is currently the largest city in the world and is believed to be the country of origin. Most of the Texas cases were among people who had recently returned from visiting Mexico.
Currently the rate of infection in Texas seems to have slowed. But this is the beginning of summer and officials are concerned that the H1N1 virus may return during this fall and winter’s seasonal flu period