By ELLIOTT JONES
TCPalm
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Confirmed swine flu cases in Indian River County now total 64 and health officials are looking into a possible outbreak at a youth residential and day camp.

Four cases have been confirmed at the Life for Youth Camp, which hosts hundreds of weekly campers from around Florida and elsewhere. One other camper, who went home out of state, is being checked for swine flu, said Miranda Swanson, administrator with the Indian River County Health Department.

Health officials have confirmed at the camp 20 cases of Influenza Type A, which in 90 percent of cases in Florida are turning out to be swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, Swanson said.
Life for Youth Camp officials couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday. Camp officials did post an announcement from the health department on the camp’s Web site, www.lifeforyouthcamp.com, alerting parents about the confirmed cases and recommending that they keep their children home if they develop symptoms of the flu.

More cases are expected elsewhere in Indian River County — especially after resumption of school in late August. School brings together in close quarters the most likely-to-be-infected group: children age 19 and younger.

In Indian River County, 54 of the confirmed cases involved youth age 18 and under. Seven are ages 19 to 50. The remainder are 51 or older. No one has died from the swine flu in Indian River County or any other Treasure Coast county.

For now, schools will start with just emphasizing preventative measures: hand washing, urging sick children to stay home and covering sneezes, said Indian River School District spokeswoman Patty Vasquez.

“We’re working closely with the Health Department,” Vasquez said.

The federal government is working on developing a vaccine that may be available this winter.

The Life for Youth Camp hosts about 220 day campers and 200 residential campers each week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says shutting down camps is not an effective way of controlling the spread of flu. And the Indian River County Health Department isn’t recommending it.

“From what we have seen, the number of cases this week are considerably less than before,” said Maureen Feaster, Health Department communicable disease supervisor. “We’re monitoring this.”
Last week about 12 camp counselors were ill and 15 campers were sent home. Feaster said her department has been getting calls from out-of-state parents wondering if their children have the flu.

Three weeks ago, the camp brought in a company to sanitize the facilities.

Tags: Indian River County, swine flu

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Health, Indian River County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.