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Cook Co. Jail Inmate Tests Positive For H1N1 Flu

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May 6, 2009 8:36 pm US/Central

Cook Co. Jail Inmate Tests Positive For H1N1 Flu

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ― The first case of the H1N1 flu virus, popularly called the swine flu, at the Cook County Jail was confirmed Wednesday, according to the sheriff's office.

A 35-year-old Chicago man tested positive earlier today. The unidentified man was booked in the jail May 2 on a drug-possession charge and held in Division 5, a medium-security area of the complex near 26th and California.

A day after he arrived, he began suffering from flu-like symptoms, according to the sheriff's office, and was moved to an isolation unit at the jail's Cermak Hospital.

That tier was quarantined until test results could be confirmed. Jail employees working on that tier wore surgical masks. Inmates on the tier were limited in moving about the jail. As of today, no one else on that tier has experienced flu-like symptoms.

With a four-day incubation period, the quarantine of that tier will be lifted on Thursday.

The inmate's case is not considered deadly, and he's expected to return to his unit on Sunday. To date, seven jail detainees have been tested for flu-like symptoms and only one has been confirmed to be the H1N1 virus, according to the sheriff's office.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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