Oregon’s first swine flu case found in Multnomah County

UPDATE • Western Oregon University closes campus after student falls ill

Pamplin Media Group, Apr 30, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (43 Reader comments)

Courtesy of DHS

Laura Tsaknaridis with the state Department of Human Services extracts RNA from specimens at the Oregon Public Health Lab Wednesday. The state is testing more than a dozen cases to see if they are the swine flu.

A woman in Multnomah County is the state’s first probable case of swine flu, Oregon health officials said Thursday morning.

The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory discovered the case late Wednesday after a test.

Health officials said that three other samples were submitted for testing and likely would show up as the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu.

“The swine flu is here,” said Dr. Mel Kohn, the state public health officer. “So our job is do what we can to respond and protect the people.”

In Monmouth, Western Oregon University closed its campus at least until Monday, May 4, after a student tested positive for the H1N1 virus at a university clinic. The student lives off campus and is receiving medical treatment.

Samples taken from the student will be tested again by federal health officials to confirm the finding.

The Multnomah County woman, who was not hospitalized and is recovering normally, had contact with someone who had recently traveled to Mexico and been exposed to the swine flu there, he said.

The specimen from this case was sent to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further characterization, with results of testing expected in several days.

“It is very likely that this test will be confirmed by the final step of laboratory testing,” Kohn said. “So we are not waiting – we are treating this as a case of swine flu.”

This case is identified as probable, rather than confirmed, because the final step of testing has not yet been performed. However, she did test positive with non-typeable Influenza A. Results from the tests done so far by the CDC indicate that more than 95 percent of cases with this test result will ultimately test positive for the swine flu once the final step of testing is finished.

Dr. Gary Oxman, the health officer for Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, said the woman became ill Sunday, April 26, after some contact with an ill family member who had recently been in Mexico. She went to work in the area one day and then stayed home with typical flu symptoms, he said.

Oxman said the woman was with family members who visited Mexico more than a week ago. At least a couple of her family members came into contact with people in Mexico who had flu symptoms. None of her co-workers has become ill, he said.

Portland-area health departments are trying to identify who might have been exposed to the case, and to slow further transmission.

“Our first priorities are to provide information to people to help them protect themselves and to slow the spread of this new strain of flu virus,” Oxman said.

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