State officials report 20 new suspected cases
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Sandy Davis
Advocate staff writer
State officials announced this morning that there are now 20 suspected cases of the swine flu virus in seven parishes in Louisiana.
“These are only possible cases, meaning they could not be identified by the Office of Public Health Laboratory in New Orleans and have been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Atlanta, Ga. for confirmation,” according to a news release sent by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.
It will take two to four days for the CDC to finish testing the samples.
The first eight samples were shipped to the CDC on Thursday, and results could be available as soon as today.
Gov. Bobby Jindal will be holding a news conference at 5 p.m. today.
Samples of the 11 new suspected cases tested positive for type A influenza, which indicates either seasonal or swine flu, the news release states. Swine flu is one of several subtypes of influenza A.
The swine flu virus subtype can only be confirmed by CDC lab tests, the release states.
Of the 20 suspected cases, 13 are from Lafayette Parish and two are from Orleans Parish. Acadia, Ascension, Beauregard, St. Martin and St. Tammany parishes each have one case, according to the release.
While there are no confirmed cases of the virus in the state, the Public Health Office is testing about 550 samples at its New Orleans office.
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