Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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(AP) - Minnesota health officials reported the
first probable case of swine flu in the state Wednesday, a person
at Rocori Middle School in the central Minnesota town of Cold
Spring, and local officials closed that school and one other there
as a precaution.


      A lab sample was flown on a state plane to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to be tested
definitively. 

State officials hoped to know by day's end
whether it was the unusual new strain of influenza that has made
people sick in Mexico, several U.S. states and other countries.

  The person who became ill was not identified, and officials were
guarded about details. 

Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan said the
person -- whom the agency chief described using the pronoun "her"
at one point -- was not hospitalized and was expected to make a full
recovery.


     Magnan said the person did not travel to Mexico, but was
believed to have had contact with someone who did.
    


  State officials had said in recent days they expected swine flu
to appear in Minnesota, and they urged people to remain calm.


      "We will have cases," State Epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield said.
"But that's OK. We deal with seasonal influenza outbreaks every
year. This is going to be different. It may become more virulent,
less virulent, we have to keep up with it and see what there is to
do."


      Added Lynfield: "We have been preparing for this for almost 10 years."


      School officials said they voluntarily closed Rocori Middle
School and St. Boniface School in Cold Spring, about 60 miles
northwest of Minneapolis.


      In an e-mail to parents, Rocori Superintendent Scott Staska said
he became aware of the case late Tuesday night. He said "an
individual from the ROCORI Middle School site" had experienced
flu-like symptoms that were "not alarming," and that the
individual was "recovering without complications."
     

 Staska said his decision to close the Rocori Middle School was
"purely as an effort to be very cautious and proactive." 

He said
classes would go on as usual at Rocori High School, Cold Spring
Elementary, Richmond Elementary, and John Clark Elementary.


      "There is not, at this time, cause for alarm. The symptoms
experienced by the individual, in this case, are not unusual nor
severe. In fact, the information shared with me is that the
individual appears in much better condition as each day passes,"
the superintendent wrote.


      Sister Sharon Waldoch, the principal at St. Boniface, a Catholic
elementary school across the parking lot with about 275 students,
said they closed as a precaution because they send students to the
public middle school for music, physical education and lunch.


      Pawlenty said the schools would reopen quickly if the CDC test
is negative, but a confirmation of swine flu would keep them closed
for as long as a week.


      Magnan said risk to students and staff at the schools was low.
But she urged people to "take care of themselves, eat right, get
the sleep they need, be physically active" and wash their hands
thoroughly and often.


      "No one has immunity to this new virus," she said.


      Though there is no vaccine for this strain of the flu, Magnan
said antiviral drugs have been effective and Minnesota is expecting
additional stockpiles of those from the CDC.

 Some of the 400,000
doses the state currently has will be distributed to regional
hospitals in case of immediate need, health officials said.

      Michael Osterholm, a pandemic flu expert at the University of
Minnesota, said detection efforts across the country
seem to be working.


      "I think the public health system has done a lot of work to
prepare itself for the early detection of a potential pandemic flu
virus in this country and I think that work is paying off," he
said.


      Osterholm said he wasn't surprised that the U.S. reported its
first confirmed swine flu death Wednesday, a 23-month-old boy in
Texas.


      "I think over the next several days we're going to see a number
of severe cases in the United States, and that doesn't
fundamentally change anything about this disease at all," he said.

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Brian Bakst, Associated Press

Author

Minnesota health officials reported the
first probable case of swine flu in the state Wednesday, a person at Rocori Middle School in the central Minnesota town of Cold Spring.

First probable case of swine flu reported in Minn.

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