Suffolk reports first confirmed swine flu cases

Suffolk has reported its first confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, commonly known as the swine flu, in two children and an adult.

The two children were in the same family, but not the adult, according to Amal Patel, epidemiologist at the Western Tidewater Health District.

They are all recovering, and none of them needed to be hospitalized.

The cases were confirmed Thursday. The Virginia Department of Health’s web site lists the number of confirmed swine flu cases in local districts as: Chesapeake, 7; Hampton, 2; Norfolk, 3; Peninsula, 15; Virginia Beach, 6.

Currently, health departments in Virginia are restricting swine flu testing to people hospitalized with flu-like illness or sepsis, people in a cluster or outbreak, and patients at high risk of flu complications who visit health-care providers who are part of the health department’s surveillance system.