Six new cases of swine flu
have been confirmed in Nova Scotia, raising the province’s known total
to 14.
The new cases are all students
at King’s-Edgehill school in Windsor. None of the cases so far are
as severe as the Mexican strand of the flu, health experts said Friday.
All 14 students, including
the six new cases, are recovering. Nova Scotia previously had to send
samples to a Winnipeg lab to detect swine flu, which took several days
to get back.
But as of Friday, Nova Scotia
doctors can now conduct those tests in Halifax. That leads to a significantly
increased turnaround time for results – usually later in the day or
the next day, according to health officials.
Though all known cases have
so far been limited to Windsor, a wider outbreak is still expected
“I fully anticipate that
we will see cases start to occur outside of the King’s-Edgehill cluster,”
said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer.
“It’s important to remember
daily activity should continue as normal as long as you are not having
flu-like symptoms. So if you’re well, it’s safe to go to school,
to work, to socialize.”
But people who feel ill that
have recently been to Mexico, or been in contact with someone confirmed
to have swine flu, are asked to isolate themselves at home for seven
days. If symptoms worsen they should seek medical care.
Strang said three students
were initially infected in Mexico. One was on a school band trip while
two others were visiting family. From there the illness spread to others
at the school.
