State health officials were being briefed late Wednesday morning on the latest swine flu information, just after confirmation that a toddler in Houston has died from the disease.
The 23-month-old boy was not further identified by the Centers for Disease Control official who confirmed the case. However, the New York Times reported Wednesday morning that the 23-month-old boy had traveled with his family from Mexico to Brownsville, and was brought to Houston after becoming sick. He died in Houston Monday night.
The state has other six confirmed cases, three among high school students in Guadalupe County and three in Dallas County.
All schools closed Monday in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District, in Guadalupe county northeast of San Antonio. The three students confirmed to have contracted swine flu attend Byron Steele High School in the district.
Locally, Lamar Consolidated and Fort Bend ISDs announced they are closely monitoring developments with the disease outbreak, but have observed no cases in their schools.
“School nurses are continuously monitoring student and staff illnesses and are stressing the importance of good hygiene practices such as hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes,” LCISD said in a statement.
Normally a respiratory disease that causes occasional outbreaks in pigs, swine flu has only rarely been reported to have been transmitted from pigs to people, and even more rarely from person to person.
The human swine flu outbreak began in Mexico. News organizations have reported that probably more than 2,000 people have become sick with swine flu in Mexico City, and more than 100 have died. However, the World Health Organization reported Tuesday that Mexico only has reported 26 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
In the United States, the CDC reports a total of 64 cases, including the six confirmed Texas cases, but not the death of the boy in Houston.
New York City has seen by far the most U.S. cases, with 45. Another 10 have been reported in California, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.
The CDC is providing extensive information on its web site about the disease and steps people should take to protect against the spread of infection.
