No new flu cases reported in state

RENO " A day after Nevada reported its first case of swine flu, health officials were still trying to figure out how the 2-year-old Reno girl contracted the virus. No new cases were reported Thursday.

"We may never know how this little girl contracted this illness," Washoe County Health District spokeswoman Judy Davis said.

"She could have been exposed to a number of people who were carrying the virus but weren't particularly ill," she said.

State health officials said the Reno girl's case did not appear to be linked to any travel to Mexico or other places where the virus has been reported.

Davis said health officials think swine flu cases might have been lumped with common influenza until testing began focusing on detecting the H1N1 Type A virus.

"It's also possible the virus has been here for a while, and it is just now being recognized," she said.

The Reno girl, who attended a daycare across the street from the University of Nevada, Reno, was reported to be recovering well with treatment. Davis said officials were awaiting word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta about laboratory samples taken from the girl's mother. She also is ill.

State Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden said as many as five samples taken from Nevadans who have exhibited some flu-like symptoms were sent to the CDC because the state lab wasn't able to eliminate them as possible swine flu cases.

They were among more than 70 samples that Willden said Wednesday a state laboratory was checking. Willden said Thursday in Carson City that he was sure the number of samples the state was testing was higher, but he didn't know by how many.

Davis said human-to-human spread of swine flu is thought to occur in the same way that seasonal flu " by infected droplets, which enter the air from a cough or sneeze.

The droplets can travel through the air for 3 to 6 feet, she said. They also can land on surfaces such as tabletops, telephone handsets and computer keyboards. Touching a surface when the live virus is present is another way to be exposed.

The Reno girl's daycare was identified as Funamentals Preschool across from UNR.

Willden said the school, operated by John and Lisa Munson, had a good licensing record over many years and wasn't being shut down.

Officials said they said feared children already exposed to the illness would be scattered among other facilities if the Fundamentals school was closed.

Health officials said two other children at the preschool who appeared to be ill have tested negative for swine flu, and that other children attending the school were being monitored.

Lisa Munson told a Reno newspaper her facility cares for about 20 children ranging in age from 2 to 6.

She said families of the other children were "all very supportive."

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Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and AP Correspondent Brendan Riley in Carson City contributed to this report.