LaredoBuzz.Com

The City of Laredo Health Department (CLHD) has received additional confirmation from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on five (5) more cases. In total the City of Laredo has ten (10) confirmed cases. All are no longer infectious, have no secondary spread and have fully recovered.

We will continue to monitor vulnerable and susceptible populations to ensure positive outcomes if someone is exposed and/or infected. Because of the continued flu season with a new virus that is widespread throughout the United States, as well as the region we should remain cautious and alert, but not alarmed nor panicked.

We are urging the media to help us get accurate information to the public in order to calm everyone. We must act like we do with seasonal flu. Persons should continue practicing preventive measures with hygiene and respiratory precautions (cover mouth when cough and wash hands, cover with tissue and wash hands, cough into your elbow and wash hands, wash before and after using bathroom facilities and before you handle food). Schools are no longer any more at risk than the rest of the community, however school officials and nurses have been advised to continue monitoring for flu like illness and if a case meets the case definition, we ask that you exclude children from school for 7 days as per CDC/DSHS guidance.

There are nine (9) students from UISD and one (1) student from LISD

UISD
Washington Middle School has five (5) cases.
… 11 year old – Female
… 13 year old – Male
… 13 year old – Male
… 14 year old – Female
… 14 year old – Male

Alexander High School has one (1) case.
… 17 year old – Female

Muller Elementary has one (1) case.
… 7 year old – Male

Kazen Elementary has one (1) case.
… 7 year old – Female

Arndt Elementary has one (1) case.
… 8 year old – Male

LISD
Ryan Elementary has one (1) case.
… 9 year old – Male

Again, all of these cases are past their infectious period, there is no secondary spread and all have fully recovered. We continue to have three (3) probable cases. The probable cases range from 4 to 41 years of age. We want to thank the medical community, hospitals and schools for their cooperation and coordination in this event. In addition we want to thank our dedicated and expert staff that has done an extraordinary public health preventive intervention to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone.

For further information please contact our hotline at (956) 795-4921.
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Please note that there is also a 4-year old child from Laredo hospitalized in San Antonio with pneumonia who has also been confirmed with swine flu, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Laredo to 11