DeWitt reports third case of novel H1N1 virus

Officials with the DeWitt Health Care Network reported Monday its third confirmed case of novel H1N1 virus within its health care system.

A 13-year-old patient of Fairfax Family Health Clinic received a Rapid Antigen Test during a recent visit that returned positive for Influenza A.

Medical staff at the Fairfax FHC immediately started the patient on a five-day course of Tamiflu medications in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and submitted the patient's labs to Walter Reed for viral culture.

After completing the Tamiflu treatment and being isolated for eight days, the patient returned to school. Walter Reed notified DeWitt officials of the confirmed H1N1 culture that same day.

According Lt. Col. Leonardo Martinez, chief of preventive medicine at DeWitt, the family of the 13-year-old patient is doing fine.

Though a small number of patients visit DeWitt clinics daily with influenza-like illnesses, Martinez said he feels the actions of the medical teams and families of DeWitt's three confirmed cases of H1N1 are encouraging.

"Everyone took the necessary precautions to treat the patient and ensure the safety of everyone around them," Martinez said. "Although the recovery of the patients is great news, the ability of health care providers and the families to react accordingly and responsibly is tremendous."

Martinez said in all three cases, the preventive medicine department at DeWitt communicated with the patients and families throughout treatment and beyond to ensure their care and safety.
According to CDC reports, more than 60 percent of confirmed and probable novel H1N1 cases across the country are patients 5 to 24 years old.

CDC officials say they are seeing outbreaks of H1N1 in schools, which is very unusual for this time of year; and, therefore, continue to urge people to take simple preventive measures to protect themselves: proper and frequent hand-washing, covering coughs with a sleeve and not with hands, staying home when sick, and keeping children home when they're sick.