America's North Shore Journal

The Defense Department’s worldwide influenza monitoring program and decisive action by the medical staff at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, is being credited with helping to identify two cases of swine flu early to help prevent a potential spread. Two 16-year-old boys, both military family members and students at Steele High School in Cibolo, Texas, reported to the Randolph Military Clinic in mid-April suffering from fever, coughs and chills. Air Force Lt. Col. Gregory York, deputy commander of the 12th Medical Group, said both exhibited “classic flu-like symptoms.” Rather than simply sending the boys home to rest and hydrate, their doctors took the extra step of harvesting “nasal washes” and submitting them for testing through the Defense Department’s Worldwide Influenza Surveillance Program, York explained. The Air Force established the lab-based … Read entire article »