Harvard hit with 'probable' case of swine flu; dental school to close

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

The Harvard School of Dental Medicine will be closed Friday, as well as its dental clinic, while officials investigate a "probable case" of swine flu there, Boston health officials announced this evening.

The Boston Public Health Commission said it had closed the Harvard Dental Center as a precautionary measure until the extent of the illness could be determined. The officials said they had also requested cancellation of classes for third- and fourth-year, and post-doctoral students.

"Those students, their faculty and staff, are urged to stay at home pending the results of the ongoing investigation," the officials said in a statement. "University officials are fully cooperating with state and local health investigators."

The university announced separately that it would close both the dental school and the clinic Friday.

Two recuperating Lowell brothers had been the only confirmed swine flu victims in Massachusetts. But as worried patients clogged the phone lines and streamed into the waiting rooms of some Massachusetts medical offices today, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health said it was likely other confirmed cases would be seen in the state.

Starting tomorrow, the state laboratory in Jamaica Plain will be able to test nose and throat samples from patients stricken with classic signs of flu -- fever, cough, aches -- and determine if they harbor swine flu. On Wednesday night, eight tractor trailer trucks rolled into Massachusetts freighted with 200,000 doses of flu medication deployed from the national stockpile.

Infections have been confirmed by federal or state authorities in at least 17 states.

Earlier today, Northeastern University announced that as a precautionary measure, it would ask its roughly 5,000 graduates to forgo the traditional handshake as they collect their diplomas during Friday's commencement ceremonies to prevent the spread of swine flu.