California health officials said Monday afternoon that there have been 11 confirmed cases of swine flu infections in the state, including a new case in San Diego County.
Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director of the state Center for Infectious Disease, said Monday the cases include five in San Diego County, five in Imperial County and one in Sacramento County. Only two required hospitalization, and those people had other underlying health conditions.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public heath officer, said on Monday afternoon that the latest case is that of a 20-year-old man. Wooten said that the first batch of antivirals is being released to the county on Monday.
Chavez said the state now is awaiting lab results from the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta on two more probable cases in California. Those two cases are also from San Diego, according to Ralph Montano of the California Department of Public Health.
In other local development, Wooten said that Christ the Cornerstone Academy in Mira Mesa is being closed as a precaution. Presumably one of the infected children from San Diego County attends that school.
Chavez said California will be able to begin conducting its own testing on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization, as of 8 a.m. PT Monday, reports 40 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and that it "very concerned" about the disease's spread. President Barack Obama said Monday the threat of spreading swine flu infections is matter of concern but "not a cause for alarm."
Health
Richard Besser, the acting head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, also said that the U.S. government was being "extremely aggressive" and saying he wouldn't personally recommend traveling to parts of Mexico where the new virus has taken hold. But he noted that the issue of a travel ban was under discussion and that nothing had been decided.
Besser said that while the U.S. hasn't advised against travel to Mexico, it has urged people to take precautions, such as
frequent hand-washing while there.
Spain reported its first confirmed swine flu case on Monday and said another 17 people were suspected of having the disease. The European Union health commissioner advised Europeans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico and the United States. Also, three New Zealanders recently returned from Mexico are suspected of having it.
