From Daily Planet Staff Reports

A Mission Hospital nurse was confirmed by health officials on May 29 as Buncombe County’s first known case of swine flu, or the novel H1N1 virus.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Lab and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the nurse, who works in the hospital’s endoscopy unit and fell ill earlier in the week with flu symptoms, has the virus.

In the aftermath, health officials are working closely with the woman and her contacts to reduce the spread of the infection to others.

Mission Hospital officials are following CDC Influenza Prevention guidelines, including evaluating staff who may have been exposed to flu symptoms. To that end, treatment with anti-viral medications is being administered to 10 employees, 11 patients, one physician, and one nurse anesthetist who were exposed to the flu symptoms, along with the woman’s family.

None of the exposed individuals have shown symptoms of the flu, officials said. The nurse has been isolating herself at home. No other clusters or cases of virus have been identified in Buncombe County. What’s more, no one has appeared at the hospital or at local physician’s offices with symptoms of the virus.

Dr. Dale Fell, Mission’s chief medical officer, noted, “It appears that this one episode is fairly well contained at this point and we are encouraged that there are no new cases showing up in the emergency room.”

 Meanwhile, health officials are continuing to investigate with whom the infected woman came into contact, according to Buncombe County Health Director Gibbie Harris.

 She said because the county now has its first confirmed case, it is possible that there could be more cases of swine flu throughout the summer and fall.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in North Carolina has jumped by 50 percent in the past two days and the state now has 21 total cases of swine flu. Along with the new case in Buncombe County, state health officials confirmed new cases in Orange and Onslow counties today and three cases in New Hanover County and one in Brunswick County on Thursday.

Federal health officials have counted about 9,000 confirmed swine flu cases nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked the virus to 15 deaths in the United States.