The state of Texas is reporting 5,372 cases of pandemic H1N1 influenza, or swine flu. 128 of the state’s 254 counties have reported cases.

22.4% of the cases are from one county, Hidalgo. This is reported to be one of the fastest growing counties in the united States and the seventh most populous county in Texas. McAllen is the largest city.

Just downstream from Hidalgo at the mouth of the Rio Grande is Cameron County, and Brownsville. Cameron reports 7.5% of the Texas pandemic flu cases.

Well upstream is El Paso county, with the city of the same name and several military bases. It reports 8.8% of the swine flu cases in Texas.

Combines, those three Rio Grande valley counties account for 38.7% of all the novel H1N1 flu cases in Texas. Harris County, the Houston metro area, has 10.5% of the reported cases with the other metro areas and counties reporting fewer cases.

Half of Texas counties have yet to see a pandemic flu case. Other than the three counties cited, the other Rio Grande counties have far fewer cases, and several have none at all.

This should be the lowest growth point for cases. Schools are out of session for another three weeks or so. The fall “second wave” will be more revealing of what pandemic flu has in store for the great state of Texas.

Case counts and trend line chart for pandemic flu in the United States July 24 2009

Here is a brief discussion of the swine flu situation in select states. The CDC is no longer publicly tracking case numbers.

July 24, 2009 is the last day that CDC is providing individual confirmed and probable cases of novel H1N1 influenza. CDC will report the total number of hospitalizations and deaths each week, and continue to use its traditional surveillance systems to track the progress of the novel H1N1 flu outbreak.

• Arizona: 947 cases as of July 22, 2009. 157 hospitalizations and 15 deaths. Median age of patients is 15, meaning that 473 cases are age 15 or younger. 71% of the cases are in patients under age 24.
• Texas: 5,151 cases, of which 1,205 are in Hidalgo County just upstream from Brownsville on the Rio Grande. No other Texas county has even half that number. Hidalgo County’s count has been climbing for the last several weeks, though the urban counties in Texas initially lead the case counts. 27 related deaths. Count is as of July 22.
• New Jersey: 1,414 cases as of June 22. 15 related deaths. Most N.J. cases are in those counties nearest New York City.
• New York City: New York City stopped publicly counting swine flu cases on July 7. Their site indicates that the last case count was 1,291. 47 related deaths are listed.
• New York: Outside of the five NYC boroughs, the state is reporting 1,114 cases through July 18. Erie County and Buffalo shows 269 cases of novel H1N1, by far the greatest number of cases outside of New York City. The other counties with high case counts are suburbs of NYC.
• Pennsylvania: As of July 23, Pennsylvania is reporting 1,965 cases of pandemic flu and 9 related deaths. With 462 cases, Philadelphia has more than double the cases count of any other Penn. county or city.
• Illinois: This state is still reporting. As of July 24, there are 3,404 cases of swine flu. There are 2,572 cases in Chicago and Cook county, 76% of the total cases for the state.
• Minnesota: This state does not have a high case total, 248. They are only counting hospitalizations now. 206 of the pandemic flu cases are in metro Minneapolis / St. Paul, illustrating the pattern for most states.
• Wisconsin: This state has the highest number of cases of swine flu in the United States. It is centered on Milwaukee and Madison, 4,029 and 565 cases in each community respectively.
• Miami – Dade County Florida: Florida stopped public reporting of pandemic flu cases within a couple of weeks after the outbreak began. As of July 24, Miami/Dade reported 924 cases and 10 deaths.

Texas has the second highest number of swine flu, or h1n1 influenza, cases in the United States at this time.

There have been 43 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in Texas. The total includes 5 residents of Mexico.

Texas counties with confirmed cases:

Bexar	1
Cameron	1
Collin	1
Comal	2
Dallas	7
Denton	1
Fort Bend	3
Guadalupe	9
Harris	2
Johnson	4
Starr	2
Tarrant	5
   Subtotal	38
   Non-Texas Residents	5
   Total	43

Texas has 254 counties.

Case counts will not be updated before 10 a.m. May 4.

There has been one death in Texas. A young boy from Mexico City who had underlying health problems died last month in a Houston-area hospital.

The public is urged to follow standard risk-reduction precautions to reduce the spread of illness:

• Stay home if you’re sick.
• Cover coughs and sneezes.
• Wash hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Texas Department of State Health Services

South Carolina leaps into the top three states with swine flu cases, surpassing California.

In response to an intensifying outbreak in the United States and internationally caused by a new influenza virus of swine origin, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 5 on April 29, 2009. A Phase 5 alert is a “strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.”

The United States Government has declared a public health emergency in the United States. CDC’s response goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this emergency. CDC is issuing and updating interim guidance daily in response to the rapidly evolving situation. CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) continues to send antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to all 50 states and U.S. territories to help them respond to the outbreak. The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. In addition, the Federal Government and manufacturers have begun the process of developing a vaccine against this new virus.

CDC