A high school in the U.S. state of Texas is temporarily closing after a new possible case of the deadly swine flu was identified there, health officials said Saturday.
Byron Steele High School in Guadalupe County near San Antonio, Texas, will "temporarily close effective immediately as public health and school officials work to keep swine influenza from spreading", the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said in a press release.
Swine flu was confirmed earlier this month in two students from the school, and a third student is listed as a probable case with confirmatory lab test results pending. The original two have recovered, and the third is recovering, officials said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry announced Saturday that he was asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give Texas 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile to prevent the spread of swine flu
A new H1N1 swine flu strain -- a mixture of swine, human and avian flu viruses -- is believed to have killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico. A total of 24 new suspected cases were reported on Saturday in Mexico City alone, where schools were closed and all public events suspended until further notice -- including more than 500 concerts and other gatherings in the metropolis of 20 million.
The outbreak also reached neighbouring U.S. with cases reported in New York City, California, Kansas and Texas.
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2009)
