Updated: 10/20/2009 8:21 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm

CDC: Most Flu Cases are H1N1

The government released new information on the spread of H1N1 as news came of another death due to the virus, and Minnesota schools and hospitals made changes in an attempt to protect people from the flu.

Tuesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nearly all new cases of influenza across the country are proving to be the H1N1 virus rather than the seasonal flu.

In response the CDC is now recommending health practitioners start treatment immediately in patients suspected of having H1N1 instead of waiting for confirmation from test results.

The CDC is also warning parents that children who appear to improve and then get much worse might have a secondary infection that could prove deadly.

An 8-year-old boy from South Dakota may be the latest victim of the H1N1 flu.

Third-grader Jack Unkenholz died Sunday at a Rapid City hospital according to his family.

If the cause of his death is confirmed as H1N1, it would be the third in South Dakota attributed to the virus.

Unkenholz's mother said her son had other health problems that made him more vulnerable to the flu.

In Minnesota, school districts in St. Cloud and Crookston and a hospital in St. Cloud announced schedule and policy changes related to the flu.

The Crookston School District canceled Wednesday classes due to a sudden increase in flu-related illnesses. Monday the school district had an absentee rate of 15 percent.

Parent-teacher conferences were previously planned for Thursday and Friday so sick students will have a long weekend to recover.

Officials with the St. Cloud School District said 530 students were out sick Monday. The district has not canceled any classes, but it has made other schedule changes.

The principal at South Junior High postponed the fall dance, which was scheduled for next week.

School officials also canceled an assembly that would have had 1,000 junior high and high school students in attendance.

Last week the district canceled a family fun night at a Roosevelt Early Childhood Center.

Hospitals around the country have put in place new restrictions on visitors in an attempt to slow the spread of H1N1, and St. Cloud Hospital is taking it one step further. The hospital is discouraging any visitors.

Sally Petrowski, RN, Infection Control specialist at St. Cloud Hospital, said, "People actually can be contagious the day before they begin to experience any flu-like symptoms and may come to the hospital not realizing they are sharing these germs with their loved ones in the hospital."

The hospital is asking people to use the phone or send an e-greeting through www.centracare.com.