Amid encouraging signs, officials urge vigilance on swine flu
As health officials warned against complacency amid signs the swine flu outbreak is leveling off, schools in two Boston-area towns were closed for disinfection this weekend after a case was confirmed in one student and suspected in another.
Classes are expected to resume tomorrow at the Lincoln School and Ashland High School.
"We're cleaning the buildings as an added precaution, so all the touch surfaces - desktops, keyboards, door knobs, etc. - will be cleaned," said Michael F. Brandmeyer, school superintendent in Lincoln, where a case was confirmed Friday in a male middle school student. "The school is safe and healthy, and we'll be fine and open on Monday."
Ashland High was also shut down for cleaning this weekend after state officials informed the superintendent that two high school students had "probable" cases of the H1N1 virus. The students were being treated at home while they awaited test results tomorrow.
Despite encouraging signs that the epidemic has leveled off in Mexico and remains relatively mild in the United States, health officials warned it is too soon to rule out more serious consequences.
Mexican officials reported no new flu deaths yesterday and said the expected surge of confirmed cases hadn't materialized. The H1N1 flu virus is blamed for the death of at least 100 people in Mexico, but just one person in the United States, a Mexican toddler who was visiting relatives in Texas.
Of the six confirmed cases in Massachusetts, five were in Middlesex County and one was in Plymouth County. Bedford officials said one of those cases involved a student, who was doing well. The student has been hospitalized and has not attended school since April vacation. Nor did the Lincoln student attend school while he was sick, officials said.
As the virus continues to spread, with 763 cases now reported worldwide, health officials urged the public to remain vigilant against the threat.
"While reports are optimistic somewhat, we can't let down our vigilance," Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director of the Science and Public Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press conference in Atlanta.
"We are acting actively and aggressively."About 195 people have tested positive for the virus in the United States, and health officials expect that number to rise in the coming days. President Obama, who expressed hope Friday that the virus would be no more harmful than ordinary flu strains, said yesterday that the government is taking precautions against a wider outbreak.
"This is a new strain of the influenza virus, and because we haven't developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm," Obama said in his radio and Internet address.
But others said the virus appears far less dangerous than initially feared. Scientists analyzing the virus have found that it lacks specific genetic traits of more dangerous strains, and some say there is little evidence the swine flu is more serious than typical influenza.
Massachusetts health officials note that about 800 people in the state die from influenza each year. But the current strain is alarming because so little is known about it.
"It's very new, so we want to err on the side of caution," said Jennifer Manley, a spokeswoman for the state public health department, who said officials expect more cases in the coming days.
José Montero, public health director for New Hampshire's department of Health and Human Services, which yesterday confirmed the state's first case of swine flu, said it was too early to make any definitive assessments.
Richard Zane, vice chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said the aggressive measures, criticized as an overreaction, are warranted.
"The virus is new to humans, the transmissibility was unknown, and it appeared to have some lethality," he said.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. 
