SALEM, Ore. – Western Oregon University officials have closed the campus through Monday after a student was identified as having probable human swine flu.
Western Oregon President John Minahan made the call Thursday, following a recommendation from the Oregon Department of Public Health.
"The reason being is that we had a student that appears to have tested positive for the swine flu. We do not know that for sure because the final kind of testing requires confirmation from the CDC in Atlanta, so we're waiting for that," Minahan said at news conference Friday. "Should that test turn positive, we will in fact stay closed for at least another next three days, because that seems to be the natural curve of the life of the virus."
Minahan said the student worked on campus and had been in contact with a number of people Officials were tracking people the student had come in contact with to monitor whether they develop flu symptoms.
"From what we know, he did not travel to Mexico and did not associate with anyone he knew who traveled to Mexico, so he has no connection to Mexico that we know of at this time," said Andy Walker, spokesman for Polk County Health Dept.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference canceled its weekend track and field championships that were supposed to be hosted by WOU. Western Oregon's baseball and softball teams had games scheduled in Washington state this weekend, but those were also canceled.
A top state official says Western Oregon University leaders made the right call.
Oregon Human Services Director Bruce Goldberg told a legislative hearing Friday that closing the campus helped avoid unnecessarily exposing 1,500 visitors who had been expected to attend track and field championships at the Monmouth campus this weekend.
Goldberg says there have been no suspected swine flu cases at Oregon's other universities. But he says the state has been in touch with officials at those schools to discuss contingency plans -- which could include campus closures -- if that step became necessary.
"We've got five probable cases. We have no confirmed cases as of yet and we are continuing to get samples in and testing them," Oregon State Public Health Director Dr. Mel Kohn said during a press conference Friday.
Also on Friday, the Willamina School District announced that it was closing all schools for the day. Officials told KGW it was due to flu concerns, but stopped short of linking it to swine flu until they could collect more data about the children who were reported sick.
Oregon's 1st probable swine flu case
State health officials on Thursday said a Multnomah County woman is the state's first probable case, but the disease has not yet been confirmed. Three other possible cases are being tested.
They said a Multnomah County woman probably contracted swine influenza from an ill person in Mexico that her family came into contact with on a recent trip.
"This is real. This is now, in Oregon," said Kohn.
The woman fell ill Sunday, April 26, a few days after seeing family that had been traveling in Mexico and exposed to someone "very sick" with swine flu while there, according to Multnomah Co. Health Officer Gary Oxman. She experienced flu-like symptoms but went to work anyway on Monday; she was not hospitalized and was recovering normally.
Spread of swine flu to the Pacific Northwest had been expected for days by public health authorities.
Washington state officials announced at least 13 cases of probable swine flu Friday. The probable case lab specimens from both states were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final confirmation.
Final results for the Oregon would not be available for several days, Kohn said. He said more than 95 percent of cases identified as "probable" have tested positive for swine flu with CDC officials.
“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.”
State officials said they would test for swine flu in limited cases: when somebody shows signs of flu and either was in a place where the disease has broken out, as in Mexico, or has been in close contact with a person who was in such a place and got sick.
Portland's annual Cinco de Mayo celebration was set to take place this weekend along the waterfront. Officials said there was no need for undue alarm.
Earlier in the week, a trip to Mexico for students at Oregon Episcopal School was cut short by concerns about the flu. Those students returned to Portland early as a precaution.
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