Two residents of Central Virginia Training Center have been treated for flu symptoms since last weekend, although the cases don’t seem to be serious, health officials said Thursday.
Dr. Kerry Gateley, director of the Central Virginia Health District, said “rapid tests” indicated the two residents probably have Type A influenza.
Confirmation is awaited from more definitive tests, but Gateley said most such cases in recent weeks have proved to be “pandemic flu,” or the H1N1 virus often called swine flu.
Both patients at CVTC appeared to have mild cases, and one of them did not have any flu symptoms on Thursday, Gateley said.
Nevertheless, both patients were being kept in private rooms and isolated from other residents for a week.
The Tamiflu medication has proved effective against the pandemic flu, Gateley said.
Twenty-five other CVTC residents who had been in contact with the patients were tested for flu virus and didn’t have it.
Still, CVTC on Monday readied four more beds in its acute-care center to isolate patients if more cases appeared.
The number of beds available for acute care had been reduced to six July 13 as the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services started phasing out acute care.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the department in Richmond said, “As CVTC continues its consolidation plans for medical services, the number of beds available under its acute license may change depending on the need at the time and the location where the services are provided.”
The Centers for Disease Control said that as of July 24, Virginia had 327 confirmed or probable cases of pandemic flu, and two people had died.
Nationally, there had been 302 deaths and almost 44,000 cases of pandemic flu since the H1N1 strain’s presence was confirmed April 15, the CDC said.
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