More Swine Flu In Our Area, New Information About Pregnant Women and Mexicans With the Virus

     The swine flu has finally made it here to the Tennessee Valley.
     We told you last night about the Bradley county case.
     Officials say lab tests confirmed the H1N1 virus last week.
     But they are not releasing any information on the victim.
     And we're also learning of another case in northeast Alabama.
     A boy attended camp in Mentone eleven days ago.
     He was taken to the emergency room at DeKalb Medical Center with a 104 degree temperature.
     He has since recovered.
     No one else in his family or at the camp have come down with H1-N1.

     Health officials are learning more about the flu virus.
     They've put out an advisory now for pregnant women who get the virus.
     They are NOT more likely to get it.
     But if they do.. They are more likely to suffer dehydration and pneumonia.  One of the two fatalities in the U.S. was a pregnant woman.
     The C-D-C's advice is to take prescription flu medicines if  diagnosed with H1N1.

     And health officials now have more leads on why the virus is striking some people harder than others.
     They say there is evidence that there is a genetic predisposition to this virus.
     That explains why it does not seem to spread the way other flu viruses do.
     And it explains why it has hit Mexicans harder than anywhere else.
     It could be in their genes.