CDC testing 3 cases of swine flu in R.I.

PROVIDENCE—Health officials are now monitoring a total of three people in Rhode Island for possible swine flu. None of the cases have been confirmed.

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Gov. Don Carcieri said Thursday that the state was sending two more samples from two adults in Smithfield and Westerly to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Both adults are recovering and did not require hospitalization.

One of the ill people provided daycare for three children. Health officials wouldn’t say where, only that the children’s parents have been notified by state authorities, and the children appear healthy.

The other person had recently traveled to Mexico.

“I think the message here is it’s not just three people has it. We know that this swine flu is everywhere in the country. It is spreading as we know influenza spreads,“ said Dr. David Gifford, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health.

“People need to think of this as the flu,“ Carcieri said. “If this were the middle of the winter and we know everybody’s got the flu, we take common precautions. When someone’s sick, they stay home. They don’t go to work and spread it. If a youngster’s sick, you keep them home from school so they don’t go and spread it.“

On Wednesday, state officials sent a sample from a North Kingstown high school student to the federal agency for testing. The high school will be closed for the remainder of the week as a precaution.

School officials in Westerly canceled a trip to Washington for about 120 high school sophomores to ensure the students would not be exposed to the swine flu by traveling.

In Massachusetts there are two confirmed cases in Lowell, where two little boys became sick following a trip to Mexico with their family.

There’s another suspected case in Easton, where a principal who’s feeling sick is awaiting test results.

In Connecticut, officials say a sixth resident has a probably case of swine flu.

State officials said the person is an adult who lives in Glastonbury. No confirmed cases of swine flu have been announced, but the CDC is also testing samples from five other people: two Fairfield University students, adults from Southbury and Stratford, and a child from Middlefield.

All six of the patients with suspected cases are recovering and did not require hospitalization.

To prevent the spread of the flu, health officials urge people to cough or sneeze into their elbows, use alcoholic hand gels and to wash their hands often.

Health officials said if people are experiencing flu-like symptoms like headaches, fever, cough, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, they should stay home.