TAMU Swine FLU for TWO

Retrieved by Pat Darnell and the Circle Y

Published Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:08 PM by the Eagle Newspaper

2 A&M students tested for H1N1 virus

Two Texas A&M University graduate students may have the swine flu, officials said Thursday.

Authorities with the Department of Visualization, where the two students are enrolled, have canceled two classes in which the students were in that were set to meet on Thursday and Friday.

The cancellation of classes comes on the same day that the World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic — the first global flu pandemic in more than 40 years.

Tim McLaughlin, who is head of the Visualization department, said several students were sick last week. The father of a student in the class — who isn't sick — is a virologist with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and came to College Station this week to test the students for H1N1 virus, he said.

Two students’ results came back positive for the virus on Tuesday, he said.

“Because it seems to be able to spread fairly rapidly, we decided at that point to send them all home and get the classroom they were in cleaned,” Mclaughlin said.

The two students are among 22 mostly first-year students in the five-week and 10-week courses that were canceled, McLaughlin said. At least six other students as well as faculty and staff have regular contact with that group.

McLaughlin said Texas A&M officials are working with state health authorities to confirm the H1N1 cases.

“We’re working with the state to make sure they’re aware of what [the virologist] found,” he said.

McLaughlin said he expects classes to resume Monday, although faculty and staff are encouraging anyone who feels sick to stay home.

Brazos County Health Department had confirmed three local cases of swine flu by mid-May — the last date that agency released information about the flu.