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Three have swine flu at Chesterfield juvenile correctional facility
Published: June 4, 2009
Eleven residents of Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County have been isolated in housing on the campus after three were diagnosed with the H1N1 swine-flu virus.
Two others with flulike symptoms, one of them with an underlying health issue, are receiving care in a central infirmary on the campus, said a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, which operates the facility.
"What we are doing right now is trying to do everything we can to limit the exposure residents might have to the illness," department spokesman Bruce Twyman said.
Dr. William Nelson, Chesterfield Health District director, said the disease is causing mild sickness. "They are healthy, well and recovering," Nelson said. "Nobody is hospitalized. Nobody is severely sick."
Twyman said the outbreak ocg
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curred in a housing unit with 24 residents. The others did not show symptoms and were allowed to remain in the original housing unit.
"For the next seven days, we will curtail visitation, working on essential contact only," Twyman said.
Non-essential visitors are being asked to stay away from the entire campus.
"We don't want any additional problems brought in while we are still trying to get a handle on this. We don't want to expose the residents or staff," Twyman said.
He said a couple of staff members with flulike symptoms are being given the antiviral drug Tamiflu, as are the sick residents.
The facility, located at 1900 Chatsworth Ave., has 175 residents, he said.
Nelson said the first case showed up last week and that more appeared during the weekend.
"It's clear we have a cluster. . . . We are not going to test everybody," Nelson said.
"The facility is right on top of it. They did an excellent job of keeping the ill away from the healthy," he added. "People who have medical conditions that would put them at risk for complications are being preventively treated with Tamiflu."
As of yesterday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 29 confirmed cases of the swine flu, while the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports confirmed and probable cases, listed Virginia's count as 36.
Swine-flu virus, like regular seasonal-flu virus, is spread from person to person. A sick person coughs or sneezes, and people around them may inhale the airborne droplets and get sick. People also can get infected by touching items contaminated with flu virus and then touching their nose or mouth.
On Tuesday, state health officials said the death of a Chesapeake woman with underlying health issues was the first in the state linked to the H1N1 flu. Nationally, the CDC as of yesterday reported more than 11,000 confirmed and probable cases and 17 deaths, not including the Virginia death.
There is evidence the virus is making more young people sick, perhaps because they do not have any underlying immunity from previous exposure to similar flu strains. Normally, seasonal flu sickens more older people because they have compromised immunity.
Twyman said parents of the youths are being notified.
"We are doing everything we think is prudent and everything health officials are advising us to do to make sure we do control it," Twyman said.