Swine Flu.....it's here in Nevada NOW

Fundamentals Preschool, located on North Virginia St. across from Lawlor Events Center, has had an excellent health record and the facility has been thoroughly disinfected, said Mike Willden, director of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Health officials said they will be able to better monitor all the children who already have been exposed to the illness if they remain at the preschool rather than close it and have them scattered among other facilities.

Two other children at the preschool who appeared to be ill have tested negative for swine flu.

Lisa Munson, who has owned the preschool with her husband John for more than 15 years, said the facility cares for about 20 children, who range in age from 2 to 6.

Munson said she informed the families of the other preschool children that the 2-year-old girl, who had been enrolled at the school for about a year, had contracted a confirmed case of swine flu.

“They were all very supportive,” Munson said.

Health officials did not release the girl’s name because of a federal health privacy law.

The girl was not hospitalized and is now home, Kristina Westerlund, the child’s cousin, said during a media briefing held at the Washoe County Health District in Reno.

Westerlund said her cousin appeared ill and listless Friday and was taken to the hospital Sunday with a fever of 104 degrees.

She said the child has fully recovered but the family was told she cannot return to the preschool until Monday.

Westerlund said her cousin’s 4-month-old sister is home after being diagnosed with pneumonia, but she doesn’t believe it is related to the swine flu.

During a press briefing held earlier in the day, Randall Todd, the Washoe County Health District’s epidemiologist, said the 2-year-old Reno girl’s case was one of four suspicious flu cases being tested by the state laboratory Monday.