Published: May 07, 2009 01:30 pm      

Indiana reports 13 new swine flu cases

INDIANAPOLIS — State health officials have confirmed 13 new cases of swine flu, boosting Indiana’s total to 28 cases of the virus.

The new cases announced Wednesday are seven cases in Marion County, four in Lake County and one each in Porter and Madison counties.

The added cases leave Marion County with 14 cases followed by Lake County’s seven cases and St. Joseph County’s two cases, both of them in University of Notre Dame students who have since recovered. Hendricks, Madison, Porter, Putnam and Tippecanoe counties each have one confirmed case.

Indiana State Department of Health spokeswoman Amber Finkelstein said the spread of the virus was in line with health officials’ expectations.

“We were expecting to see more cases as testing continues,” she said.

Finkelstein said the 13 new swine flu cases were confirmed by state labs, which had received testing kits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials were unaware whether any of the people newly confirmed with the virus had been hospitalized, she said, adding the cases were being investigated.

The median age of those confirmed with the virus was 17, she said. She wasn’t sure whether that referred to the total of 28 cases or just the 13 new ones.

The state had not received notice of any school closures as a result of the new cases, she said.

Last week, the government advised schools to shut down for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu, but the Department of Health and Human Services dropped that policy Tuesday because the swine flu virus had turned out to be milder than initially feared.

Marion County officials also announced Tuesday that two elementary schools that had been ordered closed last Friday until May 11 because each had one confirmed swine flu case will reopen Thursday morning to the schools’ 1,100 students.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe said Tuesday that although the swine flu virus is proving less severe than feared, it should not taken lightly. She says an average of 36,000 people die from influenza during regular flu season each year.

— The Associated Press