Two Hidalgo County residents die from swine flu

By Jared Janes, The Monitor

EDINBURG — Test results confirmed Monday that two Hidalgo County residents who died in hospitals earlier this month had swine flu.

The deaths – the first two reported in Hidalgo County from the H1N1 swine flu virus – may be due to underlying health conditions for the victims: a teenage boy and a woman in her 30s.

Pending tests will confirm whether the conditions contributed to their deaths, said Dr. Brian Smith, a Texas Department of State Health Services regional director who oversees the Rio Grande Valley. But with the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the county spilling over 500 – the highest in the state – the pandemic is ongoing.

“This flu is not going away,” he said. “This is something that is ongoing and that we’ll be watching for a while.”

Swine flu was officially declared a pandemic last week by the World Health Organization as the number of cases surged past 30,000.

The virus, which sparked panic after more than 100 people were killed in Mexico, has hit South Texas and the Valley particularly hard.

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