As state health officials expected, the number of confirmed H1N1 swine flu cases jumped in Utah. As of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases soared from eight to 27 cases, 21 of which are in Summit County.
The flu-like illness rate stands at 1.71 percent, which is near the outbreak level of 1.72 percent. That means 1.71 percent of Utahns going to the doctor's office report having flu-like symptoms. Nationally, the number is about 3 percent.
Most of the new confirmed cases in Summit County are people younger than 18. The majority have not recently traveled to Mexico. None of the people has been sick for more than a few days.
Health officials expect the number of confirmed cases to continue to rise rapidly now that the state is able to analyze and handle the testing, rather than sending cases to a federal lab.
Daily updates on the flu numbers are available at the Utah Department of Health Web site at http://health.utah.gov/swineflu.
Summit County Health Department » 21 confirmed cases, 7 probable
Salt Lake Valley Health Department » 4 confirmed cases, 8 probable
Weber-Morgan Health Department » 1 confirmed cases, 1 probable
Utah County Health Department » 1 confirmed, 2 probable
Central Utah Public Health Department » 3 probable cases
Southwest Utah Public Health Department » 1 probable case
Source: Utah Department of Health
