A Richmond man’s death is the latest in Virginia from swine flu, bringing total deaths in the state from the illness to 27. “It indicates that the H1N1 flu is still an issue,“ said Dr. Donald Stern, Richmond City Health District director. “That we have had a death, it does not indicate the virus is changing. It’s still primarily a mild to moderate form of disease. Some individuals, particularly those with underlying health conditions, are at risk. That is why we encourage them to get their vaccine,“ Stern said.

Flulike illness in the state appeared to decline last week, but deaths caused by the H1N1 flu continue to rise. As of yesterday, 21 deaths across Virginia were being blamed on swine flu. That’s four more than reported earlier this week. “I can’t tell you that we are coming down on the other side of the pandemic curve yet,“ Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia’s health commissioner, said during a news briefing yesterday.

Advertisements on buses and in movie theaters, television and radio spots, temporary tattoos, T-shirts and stickers are all being used in a media campaign to persuade Virginians to get the H1N1 swine-flu vaccine.

When responding to a call, paramedic Thomas Barrett, 44, protects himself with a face mask if he encounters a patient coughing and sneezing. So it was a no-brainer to get vaccinated against the H1N1 swine flu yesterday. The Richmond Ambulance Authority employee followed registered nurse Jatori Robinson’s instructions to sniff after she squirted vaccine up each of his nostrils yesterday.

As Virginia prepares to receive its first doses of swine-flu vaccine, the death of another state resident infected with the virus is a reminder that influenza can be deadly. “It’s very unfortunate and sad when anybody dies of an infectious disease,“ said Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia health commissioner, yesterday in an online video chat on TimesDispatch.com.

She’s out resting in the shade of your shrubs and vines, waiting for you to walk by before she attacks. In the blink of an eye, the wispy creature takes a nip out of you, leaving behind the most common summertime tattoo. Why does a mosquito bite? It’s all about sex. “Her sole purpose is to reproduce,“ said Lane Carr, senior environmental inspector for Henrico County. “The only reason she looks for blood is to help her lay fertile eggs.“

1. False. Mosquitoes tend to breed in small, temporary sources of water, such as puddles, birdbaths or kiddie pools—particularly Asian tigers, which breed in containers. Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a tablespoon of water. 2. True and false. “Certain times of day can play a role, depending on the species,“ said David N. Gaines, state public health entomologist for the Virginia Department of Health. “But most people bitten in Virginia are bitten by the Asian tiger mosquito, which bites during daylight hours.“

Virginia Department of Health: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/Epidemiology/DZEE/Vectorborne/WestNile/
Virginia Mosquito Control Association: http://www.mosquito-va.org/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
Environmental Protection Agency Pesticides & Mosquito Control: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/

Virginia will get $8.8 million in federal money to ramp up the public health and hospital systems to respond to pandemic flu. The dollars include $6.5 million for public-health preparedness and $2.26 million for hospital preparedness. The money is part of $350 million the U.S. Office of Health and Human Services is making available to states to deal with the H1N1 swine-flu virus that is causing a flu outbreak.

Cases of the swine flu continue to climb in Virginia—and that’s pretty much what experts expect. Across the state, 90 cases of the flu have been reported, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. That’s up from the 84 cases reported Wednesday in the last update from the state Department of Health.

A student in Richmond and one in Hanover County are infected with the H1N1 swine flu, while a flu outbreak at a juvenile correctional facility in Chesterfield County is winding down. Statewide, a total of 84 cases of the flu virus have been reported in 22 of the state’s 35 health districts. In Richmond, a student at William Fox Elementary School, 2300 Hanover Ave., was confirmed to have the H1N1 swine flu.

There have been no new cases of swine-flu-related illness at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County, but cases of the virus continue to increase across the state. On the Peninsula, health and school officials say a male student at Grafton High School in York County and a male student at Jamestown High School in James City County have the virus and are recovering at home.

A Chesapeake woman who lived at the Southeastern Virginia Training Center, a state-run facility for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, is Virginia’s first death related to swine flu. Virginia Department of Health officials said yesterday that the cause of death had not been confirmed, but that the H1N1 swine flu appears to have been a factor.

You hope that beach water you are playing in isn’t teeming with bacteria that’s going to make you sick if you accidentally get a mouthful. But you generally can’t tell just by looking at it or sniffing it, so public-health officials go out weekly during beach season to get water samples to test for contaminant levels. Just in time for Memorial Day, last week the Virginia Department of Health kicked off its annual beachmonitoring program.

Richmond-area residents also enjoy swimming in the James River. We asked Virginia Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Bill Hayden about monitoring efforts. What monitoring is done of the James River for swimming safety? On a routine basis it’s monitored about quarterly. When I say monitored, we collect water samples and conduct tests for bacteria, among other things. In the area from Pony Pasture to Tredegar in the summer months we may monitor more than once a month. It depends on what the weather has been like. If we get a lot of rain, we may be more likely to check. So it’s not a fixed schedule, but generally more in the summer.