Feds Confirm 13 South Carolina Swine Flu Cases

Thirteen cases of swine flu have now been confirmed in South Carolina, all students of Newberry Academy who took a recent trip to Mexico. According to state health inspectors, the thirteen students with swine flu appear to be recovering. Meanwhile, there are more suspected cases from other parts of the state, including at least on from the Charleston area.

Newberry Academy is a private school in Newberry, SC. It has been closed this week due to the outbreak, and on Thursday school officials closed Newberry County public schools as well, cancelling activities and school trips through at least Sunday in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading to students in other schools.

Also, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) had a disease investigator killed in a motor vehicle accident while working on the swine flu outbreak. Dr. Jerry Gibson, chief of DHEC's Bureau of Disease Control, said his department had investigators working around the clock due to the epidemic, and the 55-year-old employee was on the job when the accident occurred.

The thirteen student cases were confirmed by the Center for Disease control (CDC) lab in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Our lab can give a probable diagnosis that is 95 percent sure," said Gibson, "but we simply needed confirmation."
Gibson said that right now the disease is only confirmed among the one cluster group, but there are additional suspected cases across the state now.

"They (the confirmed cases) are all associated with the Newberry outbreak," he said. "But in addition we have (more) probable diagnosis from the Newbery area, from up state, and one in Charleston. We are now isolating 51 people and doing voluntary home quarantine on 127,and giving 130 persons post-exposure preventive treatment."

The number of suspected new cases is increasing by the hour according to Gibson.

"Our staff is investigating many, many possible cases in 5 of our 8 health regions," Gibson said.

He also said that his staff has worked with the schools to develop a policy on the disease and is speaking to health professionals and their groups across the state.

"We're trying to get the message out to our partners in dealing with this...what I think we can call an epidemic in South Carolina," Gibson said.

The swine flu caseload for the nation passed 100 and over 300 schools were closed across the country. Federal transportation officials dealt with the fallout from Vice President Joe Biden's comments that he wouldn't want his family using public transportation.

Meanwhile, federal authorities are pledging to eventually produce enough swine flu vaccine for all citizens, but have indicated the shots couldn't begin until this fall at the earliest.

Gibson reiterated the now oft repeated advice for people to wash their hands after contact with another person, and to be alert when in large groups.

"If you are in a large setting and you see people coughing, or having respiratory problems, kind of stay at least six feet away from them," he said.