The first Fort Bend County resident confirmed to have swine flu is a 17-year-old girl attending Episcopal High School in Bellaire.
School officials learned of the case Wednesday night and, as a result, have closed the school at least through the weekend.
Health officials from the Fort Bend County, where the girl lives, made the announcement Wednesday evening after receiving confirmation of the case from the Centers for Disease Control.
“We learned this evening from Harris County that one of our students has tested positive for swine flu. That student has not been in school at all this week because of the flu-like symptoms, and the student’s mother indicates this evening that the student is feeling better,” school officials said in a letter to students and parents.
“In compliance with the directives of the Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services Department, Episcopal High School will be closed through the weekend, effective immediately,” the letter states. “The campus will remain locked during that time. Please be assured that we are taking all necessary precautions to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and the community.”
“We will continue to carefully monitor this developing situation and will share any new information with you as it becomes available. We will reopen the school as soon as we are advised by Harris County that it is appropriate to do so.”
Officials say the girl first started feeling ill last week and sought medical treatment. At that time she was given a swab test for swine flu. The results of that swab test were received Wednesday, confirming the girl was infected with the H1N1, or swine flu virus.
The girl, who has not recently traveled to Mexico and has had no apparent connection with anyone who has, has since recovered. None of her family members are currently reported to have any symptoms of the flu.
So far, a total of 16 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas and 91 nationally. Counties affected so far include Cameron, Dallas, Fort Bend, Guadalupe and Starr.
The total includes a Mexico City toddler who died Monday in Houston after falling ill while visiting relatives in Brownsville and being transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. That case was the first confirmed swine flu death in the United States since the outbreak began.
In Guadalupe County, which has half of Texas’ confirmed cases at eight, all schools in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District were closed beginning on Monday as a precaution against spreading the disease.
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.
