Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Seventh case of flu identified in Maine
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This case won't force the shutdown of any schools, a top state aide says.
From staff reports May 4, 2009

AUGUSTA — State health officials have identified a seventh swine flu infection in Maine.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday an adult in York County has contracted the influenza strain, also known as H1N1. The York County adult is the county's fourth swine flu case.

Two adults in Kennebec County and a child in Penobscot County are also infected.

State officials say the swine flu symptoms in Maine are mild, and the infected residents are recovering at home.

"Our goal remains to slow the spread of H1N1 influenza and protect public health," Maine CDC director Dora Anne Mills said Sunday in a statement.

The seventh identified case came a day after Maine received its first stockpile of antiviral medications. David Farmer, Gov. John Baldacci's deputy chief of staff, said Saturday there are no plans yet to use those antiviral drugs. They're intended only to treat seriously ill, hospitalized patients.

The state expects another shipment of anti-viral medications as soon as Tuesday.

Unlike the previous York County swine flu case, the identification of a seventh person with the flu will not require the shutdown of any schools, Farmer said Sunday. The earlier case, in which two children lived in the same household as the adult identified with H1N1, forced Kennebunk Elementary School to close.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday said it has confirmed 226 swine flu cases in 30 states, according to its Web site. Maine's seven infections are not among those because the federal agency has not yet tested the state's samples.


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