Flu fears to close Larkin High School for a week

An Elgin high school became the latest suburban school in to cancel classes, as the number of probable cases of the H1N1 flu in Illinois grew to 85 Saturday.

The number of suspected or probable cases was of H1N1, also known as swine flu, was up from 54 on Friday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The number of confirmed cases remained at three: two in Chicago and one in DuPage County.

After learning that a 15-year-old high school student is among the probable new cases, officials in Elgin Area School District U-46 opted to close Larkin High School until May 8.

"We are closing Larkin High School in Elgin on the advice of the Kane County Health Department," District U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said.

Larkin is the second school in the West suburban district to close because of a suspected case of the highly contagious H1N1 virus. Ridge Circle Elementary School in Streamwood also will be closed until May 11; an 11-year-old at the elementary school may have contracted the illness as well.

At least eight schools across the suburbs have been closed as school and health officials try to control the spread of the virus, which has been milder so far in the United States than in Mexico, where it has killed 16 people.

Aside from Larkin and Ridge Circle, the other suburban schools that have had cases that led to closures are: Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Haines Middle School in St. Charles, Ira Jones Middle School in Plainfield, Marmion Academy in Aurora, St. Edward Central Catholic High School in Elgin, and Batavia High School. All are expected reopen Monday or sometime next week. All of the closures were based on the recommendation of county health officials.

In Chicago, school officials said that beginning Monday, students who come to school with a fever of more than 100 degrees will be sent home and required to stay home for at least seven days. One Chicago school has been closed due to the flu.

More than 430 schools nationwide had closed as of Friday, affecting about 245,000 children in 18 states, according to the U.S. Education Department.

The Larkin student was among three new probable cases of the flu that turned up in Kane County Saturday. The two others are a 22-year-old Elgin resident and an 18-month-old in Aurora, according to the Kane County Health Department. The total number of people in Kane County who probably have H1N1 virus stands at 11.

No additional suspected cases of the H1N1 flu were reported in DuPage, Lake, McHenry or Will counties Saturday where the probably cases are 11, 2, 1 and 5, respectively. Suburban Cook County has 28 probable cases; Chicago reports 24, according to the state health department.

Elsewhere in the state, health officials reported Saturday that the first probable cases outside of the Chicago metropolitan showed up: one each in Sangamon and Winnebago counties.

Health officials in Illinois say the state has enough flu drugs to treat more than 1 million people and the state has switched to a less aggressive testing standard as the number of H1N1 flu cases continues to grow. The state now recommends testing on hospitalized patients with severe symptoms in order to use resources more cautiously.

While state health officials expect to see more cases, they said there's no reason to panic and that Illinois has the resources in place to respond appropriately.

"We anticipated seeing cases of the H1N1 flu virus across Illinois and we expect to see more. However, there is no need to be alarmed," said Damon Arnold, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, in a news release Saturday.

Nationwide, the number of confirmed flu cases rose to 160 from 141. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus has surfaced in 21 states with New York reporting the highest number of confirmed cases at 50; Texas and California follow with 28 and 24, respectively. The only reported death from the flu in the U.S. was a Texas toddler.

As the number of suspected and confirmed cases continues to increase, airlines are reducing service to and from Mexican destinations, in response to a reduction in demand because authorities believe the first case of this particular flu originated in a small Mexican town that has a hog farm.

Continental Airlines on Saturday cut in half the number of seats available for flights starting Monday and continuing through the end of the month. Continental, with its hub in Houston, runs 450 flights daily in and out of Mexico.

"Given the swift changes we are seeing in the marketplace, we need to react prudently but quickly to bring our capacity more into line with demand," said Larry Kellner, Continental chairman and chief executive officer. "We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness. Our plan going forward will be to continue to monitor demand levels we are seeing and adjust our capacity and costs accordingly."

United Airlines on Friday reported a reduction of flights though June 6; as of Saturday, Mexicana Airlines said all flights would continue as scheduled.

The federal government is urging Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico to avoid spread of the virus, which had been referred to as the swine flu.

Earlier, scientists believed the virus was similar to viruses that affect North American pigs, but later learned it had genes related to pigs in Europe and Asia, as well as avian genes and human genes, according to the CDC Web site. That is the reason for the switch to the name H1N1, an abbreviated reference to two viral proteins.

To prevent spread of the flu, the CDC recommends that people wash their hands thoroughly on a regular basis, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough, and stay home if you are sick.

• Jack Komperda and Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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