Local News

(CBS 5 / AP / BCN) Two Bay Area schools will be closed for a week after four students were diagnosed with probable cases of swine flu, while three additional cases may have emerged in Santa Clara County, public health officials said Wednesday.

A16-year-old female student at Branham High School in San Jose, as well as three fourth graders at Highlands Elementary School in Pittsburg were diagnosed with probable cases of the contagious virus. Both schools were closed by officials until May 6 to help prevent the virus from spreading.

"We closed the school to be very conservative," said Dr. Wendel Brunner, Contra Costa's director of public health. "This is a new virus and there are a lot of things that we don't know yet."

Health officials were also testing a "cluster" of children who attend nearby Marina Vista Elementary School in Pittsburg for swine flu after eight students reported feeling ill, according to Brunner, but there were no immediate plans to cancel classes there.

In addition to the San Jose teenager, officials late Wednesday said there were three new probable cases of swine flu in Santa Clara County affecting a 30-year-old man who did not require hospital treatment and was recovering; a 32-year-old woman who had recently traveled to Mexico and who also had not required hospital treatment; and a 53-year-old woman.

The Bay Area's first confirmed cases of swine flu were reported on Tuesday in Marin County. A 60-year-old woman and her 20-month-old granddaughter were diagnosed with the virus after returning from a trip to Mexico.
 
California health officials urged the public to take extra precautions against swine flu, hoping to stem the outbreak that so far had resulted in 14 confirmed cases -- mostly mild -- throughout the state.

Authorities also were investigating another 29 probable cases statewide on Wednesday, but there continued to be confusion about the number of cases because individual counties reported cases that had yet to be confirmed by state officials.

"While swine flu patients in California have had only mild to moderate illness, strong action is needed by every single one of us to limit the spread of the virus and minimize the impact on people's health," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.

After the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it raised the pandemic flu alert from phase 4 to phase 5, Schwarzenegger issued a statement reading, "From the moment the first cases of swine flu arose in California, my administration has responded vigorously by deploying resources and preparing for the additional cases of swine flu we are now seeing. We are already taking the steps that are appropriate for a level 5 pandemic alert.''

In Southern California, the Pentagon said that a Marine who fell ill at Twentynine Palms had the first confirmed case of swine flu to show up in America's armed forces.

It's not clear how he may have contracted the virus. Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, said the Marine had not been to Mexico, but had traveled around the San Bernardino Valley area of Southern California.

Pentagon officials said between 30 and 37 other Marines who had come in contact with the sick Marine would be placed under quarantine for five days.

Two Southern California universities - Cal State, Long Beach and San Diego State University - issued warnings to students and faculty after each found a student with probable cases of the virus.

State officials reiterated commonsense advice for people, especially those who work in close contact with others, to stay home if they come down with symptoms.

"This is a virus, to our knowledge, a human being has never been exposed to before," said Mark Horton, director of the state Department of Public Health. "That's why we're paying much more attention to this than we would you might say an annual seasonal flu."

Ken August, a state public health spokesman, said California was well-positioned to tackle the outbreak, noting that the state has 3.7 million antiviral doses of Tamiflu and Relenza stockpiled.

Another 1.3 million antiviral doses was to arrive from the nation's strategic national stockpile, and the federal government had 4 million more doses in reserve allocated to the state if it's needed, August said.

That's enough to cover a quarter of California's population.

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