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Texas officials are monitoring a rise in swine flu cases in the Southeast United States and encouraging people who have not been vaccinated to get a shot in case a third wave of virus hits.
"What we've seen are upticks in other parts of the country, and we're concerned because our illness has tended to follow what happens in the Southeast," Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said Thursday. "We think it could affect Texas next."
Georgia is seeing the largest influx of H1N1, or swine flu, cases since last fall, when the illness peaked. No deaths were reported, and federal authorities, who called a news conference Monday because of the Georgia situation, said they saw no evidence the virus had changed.
Travis County has had seven swine flu deaths since the outbreak, according to state data. The most recent was reported to health authorities in late January: The death was of a 63-year-old woman in November, according to Carole Barasch, spokeswoman for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. She had underlying health conditions, Williams said.
Hays County has had two swine flu deaths; Williamson and Bastrop have each had one; and Caldwell County has had two, a man and a woman who died in October. Each had underlying health conditions, Williams said.
"What we've seen are upticks in other parts of the country, and we're concerned because our illness has tended to follow what happens in the Southeast," Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said Thursday. "We think it could affect Texas next."
Georgia is seeing the largest influx of H1N1, or swine flu, cases since last fall, when the illness peaked. No deaths were reported, and federal authorities, who called a news conference Monday because of the Georgia situation, said they saw no evidence the virus had changed.
Travis County has had seven swine flu deaths since the outbreak, according to state data. The most recent was reported to health authorities in late January: The death was of a 63-year-old woman in November, according to Carole Barasch, spokeswoman for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. She had underlying health conditions, Williams said.
Hays County has had two swine flu deaths; Williamson and Bastrop have each had one; and Caldwell County has had two, a man and a woman who died in October. Each had underlying health conditions, Williams said.
