Officials with the Centers for Disease Control confirmed today that a 23-month-old child  succumbed to swine flu in Houston, the first confirmed death in the United States. At least seven people in Mexico have died from the flu, while another 152 deaths are suspected cases.

Overall, there were 66 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States as of this morning, CDC officials said.

Fortunately, no cases have been reported to date in Howard County.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs that occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of persons spreading swine flu to others.

The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

George Parsley, chief executive officer for Scenic Mountain Medical Center, said his facility is prepared in case any local cases surface.

“We are refining our flu procedures and distributing educational information to patients,” Parsley said. “There are all kinds of procedures in place to help deal with this.”

According to an Associated Press report, common seasonal flu kills at least 250,000 annually across the globe, numbers that dwarf casualties reported from swine flu.

What is different about swine flu, however, is that no vaccine has been developed to prevent it, although there are various antiviral medications licensed to treat the illness, officials said.

Parsely said the illness is having a greater effect psychologically, rather than physically, on the general populace and he sought to reassure people jittery over possibly contracting swine flu.

“I don't think there's anything particularly scary about the swine flu,” he said. “I wouldn't think it's necessarily any more scary than any other flu situation ... It just happens to be happening in an unlikely time in the flu cycle.”

Despite the lack of vaccine, Parsley said there are some simple precautions people can take to ward off the illness.

“We call it the '3 C's — Clean, Cover and Contain,'” he said. “Clean your hands, cover your mouth when you cough and contain the spread of germs by staying away from sick people ... We use these simple precautions all the time and they are probably the most important thing you can do to stop the spread of germs of any kind.”

Parsley said persons who develop flu-like symptoms need to contact their doctor of healthcare provider immediately.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it