Calaveras County ‘swine flu’ case confirmed by officials

A 2-year-old Vallecito girl had a case of swine flu, Calaveras County Health Officer Dean Kelaita said Thursday.

She has since fully recovered, he added.

This marked the only case in either Calaveras or Tuolumne counties of an influenza that prompted pandemic-level precautions in recent weeks.
  

“We got word back today that indeed that was a confirmed case,” Kelaita said.

State health officials confirmed local testing that the illness was swine flu, also known as H1N1 influenza.

The child first experienced flu-like symptoms April 21 after contact with a person who had been in Mexico, Kelaita said. The only people she was in contact with while sick were immediate family members, none of whom have shown any symptoms of the illness.

The girl received medical treatment but was never hospitalized, Kelaita said.

Overall, the swine flu now “looks like a relatively mild illness compared to what we had first feared,” he said of the flu and the aggressive prevention measures it prompted in several parts of the country and Mexico.