First Case of Mexican Flu East of Kansas City

Not hospitalized. I guess this flu scare has been overplayed? Who knows. Right now there is a lot of blight wing chatter about it turning into airborne AIDs. More than likely, it's a mutation from a huge pig farm known for filthy conditions in Mexico City, but nothing is for sure. Just more fruits of diversity from the Turd World.

Be careful out there.

UPDATE: O’Fallon man with swine flu had traveled to Texas

By Kalen Ponche
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 5:24 PM CDT

A 24-year-old O’Fallon man who recently traveled to Texas is the first person in the St. Louis region to have a confirmed case of swine flu.

Three other cases involving two people in Platte County and one in Jackson County were detected Tuesday by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Missouri to eight.

Four additional cases of swine flu are suspected and awaiting confirmation from officials.

It was not clear where the O’Fallon man contracted the disease, although a spokesman with the St. Charles County Department of Community Health and the Environment said the man recently had traveled to south Texas to visit family.

"At this point we don’t know where he picked up the virus," said Cameron Satterfield, a spokesman for the county health department. "It could have been down there, it could have been up here."

The man was not hospitalized and is taking antiviral medications and recovering at home, Satterfield said.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease in pigs that can also infect humans. The virus can spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing.

People who have swine flu are contagious from the day before they start to feel ill to seven days later, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

None of the people the man has been in contact with has felt sick, Satterfield said.

As a precaution, several of his co-workers who had contact with him recently are staying home for the next few days, Satterfield said.

"You want to go back a little bit before (the day the person first felt ill) to be safe and make sure you’re getting everybody," Satterfield said.

Health officials expect to see more cases of swine flu in the area.

"We expected this to happen," Satterfield said. "It was a when, not an if."

The O’Fallon man is not in school, but county health officials have been in contact with local school officials to give them new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about school closures.

"They now say you don’t have to close the whole school down, just to make sure the person stays home and monitor the rest of the children," Satterfield said.

As of Wednesday evening, there were 642 confirmed cases of swine flu in 41 states across the country, and two deaths, according to the CDC. Illinois had the largest number of cases at 122.

Worldwide, the virus has spread to 23 countries with more than 1,800 people sickened.

Satterfield said more people are on alert and if they experience flu-like symptoms are going to doctors and hospitals to get checked out.

If you start to experience flu-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose or nausea, contact your health care provider.

For more information, visit the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/.