A girl, 9, and boy, 10, were identified as having had the virus. Neither needed hospitalization and both have recovered. Puzzled health officials try to find the source of the infection.
By Tony Perry
6:39 PM PDT, April 21, 2009
Reporting from San Diego -- Two mysterious cases of swine flu have been found in Imperial and San Diego counties, leading to an investigation by local, state and federal health officials to find the source.
A 9-year-old girl in Imperial County and a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County were identified as having had the virus, officials said Tuesday.
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Neither needed hospitalization and both have recovered. But health officials remain puzzled because neither patient had been in contact with pigs or with each other, and the strain of the flu is one never seen before in the United States.
Officials said there is no indication the virus is spreading. "We do not have an epidemic," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County health officer.
Family members and other people who know the two patients were being interviewed and tested.
Although it commonly causes respiratory problems in pigs, swine flu is rare in humans. Only 12 other cases of human infection have been detected since 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 12 cases, 11 of the patients had had contact with pigs.
Symptoms include fever, lethargy, cough and lack of appetite.
Documented cases of swine flu being transmitted from one human to another are rare, according to the CDCP.
The most serious recent outbreak was in 1976 at Ft. Dix, N.J., in which a soldier died and several became ill with influenza-like symptoms. After the Ft. Dix outbreak, President Ford ordered a nationwide program in which an estimated 40 million people were inoculated.
The 1976 outbreak concerned scientists because the virus appeared similar to the one linked tothe 1918-19 pandemic in which tens of millions of people died worldwide. Investigators in the current cases are considering whether improved testing is now detecting cases that otherwise wouldn't have been.
tony.perry@latimes.com
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