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Highlands Today

Four new cases of swine flu confirmed in Highlands

Patients are doing OK, health official says

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By PALLAVI AGARWAL

Highlands Today

Published: July 3, 2009

SEBRING - Four new cases of swine flu have been reported in Highlands County, bringing the total number of confirmed cases of illness from the H1N1 virus in the county to five.

The Highlands County Health Department was notified Wednesday.

The four are doing OK and none were hospitalized, health department epidemiologist Leona Braithwaite said Thursday.

"A couple have a slight cough," she added. Braithwaite did not reveal specific details except to say the four range from ages 10 to 43 and were related to each other "half in half."

It is not known which area of Highlands County they are from. For the most part, the four did not have any travel history, either, Braithwaite added.

A 4-year-old boy from the Sebring area was Highlands County's first confirmed case of swine flu in late May.

Just like the boy, the other four were not quarantined. Braithwaite said there is no mandatory quarantine but patients are asked to isolate themselves.

On June 11, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level in response to H1N1 to Phase 6, which indicates that a global pandemic is under way.

More than 70 countries are now reporting cases, according to the Centers of Disease Control.

In Florida, authorities say a Davie man with a chronic heart problem was killed by swine flu Tuesday.

A state lab in Jacksonville released test results Tuesday, confirming 58-year-old Michael Waldfogel as the third person in Florida to die from the H1N1 virus.

The Broward medical examiner's office reports that Waldfogel visited a doctor several weeks ago complaining of typical flu symptoms and was given medication. He was last seen June 20 and was found dead in his home four days later.

Florida has had 941 cases and two other deaths, one in Miami and one in the Orlando area.

Even though swine flu is not in the news like it was recently, people should continue to be vigilant about their personal hygiene, Braithwaite said.

"We are definitely pushing the prevention message," she said. "Personal hygiene has to stay at the forefront of people's minds."

Those who think they are ill should call their physician, she said. Their doctors can decide what the next step should be, she added.

The Associated Press contributed to the report.

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