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State health officials say the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in Arizona is now at 49 -- up from the previous figure of 17.
Arizona Department of Health spokeswoman Laura Oxley says the new confirmed cases were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week and took a while to identify because of the backlog there.
Arizona has an additional 150 to 200 possible cases of swine flu at the CDC for testing and Oxley says the number of confirmed cases will certainly increase.
She says the state laboratory hopes to start testing its own cases on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, students at three Phoenix-area schools that were closed because of the swine flu returned to class Tuesday.
Meantime, Texas health officials have confirmed that state's first American swine flu death.
The victim is reported to be 33-year-old woman from Mercedes, Texas.
ABC15's sister station, WMAR in Baltimore is reporting that Judy Trunnell went to a hospital a few weeks ago complaining of shortness of breath. She was eight months pregnant at the time.
Trunnell slipped into a coma and had been on life-support. Her daughter was delivered by caesarian section. The baby was released from the hospital Tuesday.
In Arizona, the southeastern border city of Nogales confirming its first case of swine flu.
Ten public schools in Santa Cruz County are now closed for one week as a precaution after a student tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu. That student attends Bracker Elementary School and administrators say the child has recovered.
County health officials recommended the district close that school and a neighboring school for a week, but the district decided to close all of its schools as an extra precaution. Students will return to class May 11th.
The latest number of infected people in Arizona is 18, including nine in Maricopa County. Pima County has six cases and Yuma County has one. Health officials say three of the flu patients are in the hospital.
The CDC in Atlanta has been sent another 87 probable cases of swine flu from Arizona, but the results haven't yet come back. More than half of those are from Maricopa County.
In the Valley, several public schools remain closed. In Phoenix, Moon Mountain Elementary is closed. In chandler, Hartford and Tarwater Sylvia Encinas Elementary schools are closed but could re-open as soon as Tuesday.
School administrators say all of the students state-wide who contracted swine flu have now recovered.
Arizona officials received news Saturday that 13 new cases were confirmed across the state, bringing to 18 the total number of people infected with swine flu in the state.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services website, three of those cases required hospitalization.
Of the cases confirmed, nine were found in Maricopa County, six in Pima County, and one each in Yuma and Santa Cruz Counties.
The vast majority of confirmed cases have been in children.
Earlier Saturday, officials with Arizona State University said it has two 'probable' cases of swine flu.
In a Saturday news release, an ASU spokeswoman said ASU health officials were awaiting confirmation of the cases from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Media Relations Officer Julie Newberg said the students live off campus, are recovering and voluntarily isolating themselves from others.
Newberg said that "based on continued evidence of the mild nature of this flu strain and because flu is not widespread at ASU, the university will continue to maintain normal operations."
Meantime, public events still thrived in Tempe this weekend.
”I’m not too scared about it,” said Rene Soliz, who attended the Greek Festival with his family. “It’s just another epidemic, just like anything else.”
Julie Largent, who also spent the day at the festival, agreed.
“I think the chances are so slim of catching it,” she said. “You can catch anything, anywhere, and get hit by a car crossing the street. Bad things happen all the time to people, and I think life is meant to be lived.”
A group of ASU fraternity brothers said the swine flu scare would not stop them from attending their formal, or any other public event.
“If you have good hygiene, that should be 50 percent right there, as long as you're washing your hands all the time and showering often,” said economics major Dooley Davis. “Some people don't wash their hands, and that's kind of gross.”
Keeping clean isn’t always an option for people like Michael Larson, who has been homeless since he was 13 years old. Simple tasks like washing his hands and showering, don’t come easy.
He has been feeling sick lately, with symptoms that have a nation on alert—coughing, fatigue and sore throat. If he does have swine flu, he says he won’t be able to quarantine himself inside and away from the public, and he doesn’t have insurance or money for health care.
“It sucks, but you can always apply for access,” said Larson. “I am right now, but it's taking forever for the paperwork to go through.”
Managers at bars, restaurants and movie theatres around ASU said they hadn’t seen a difference in business since the swine flu broke out.
In the meantime, officials at Northern Arizona University say a student believed to have swine flu has tested negative for the virus.
The 19-year-old student, who originally reported flu-like symptoms on April 24, is fully recovered, according to Beth Applebee, director of NAU’s Fronske Health Center.
Two Valley elementary schools that were closed after students were confirmed to have had the swine flu virus could re-open early next week.
Maricopa County health official plans to stop closure of schools
According to a Chandler Unified School District official, Hartford Sylvia Encinas Elementary and Tarwater Elementary will remain dismissed on Monday. The schools were closed Thursday.
They said the district will discuss with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health the feasibility of reopening both schools to students as early as Tuesday.
School officials advise parents to visit the District website on Monday for further updates.
At a Saturday afternoon news conference, the County Health director said he will no longer recommend schools in Maricopa be dismissed due to new confirmed cases.
“Because current data does not suggest that this strain of H1N1 is behaving any differently than seasonal flu, I am recommending schools in Maricopa County no longer dismiss classes due to a confirmed case.” said Dr. Bob England, director of Maricopa Department of Public Health.
Public health officials in Arizona say it appears the swine flu that has spread across the nation in the past week isn't any more severe than normal influenza.
The State Lab received equipment from the CDC that will allow technicians to test samples locally which should result in a faster calculation of the confirmed cases to come.
See the daily swine flu report from the Arizona Department of Health Services
The first positive case was confirmed Wednesday in an 8-year-old Phoenix boy.
His 800-student elementary school was ordered closed for a week to prevent other students from coming down with the new strain of influenza.
Valley doctors: We should all calm down about swine flu
Number of swine flu cases in U.S. passes 100
No specific vaccine for humans exists, but federal health officials are working with the World Health Organization to develop a vaccine for the virus.
Swine flu is a highly contagious acute viral respiratory illness typically found in pigs. This particular strain appears to be a mutation never seen before involving pig, avian and human viruses.
