A group of ninth graders and teachers from a California private school has been quarantined in China after seven of them tested positive for swine flu on a school trip.

Caroline Callaway, a spokeswoman for Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, said six students and one teacher have been diagnosed with the virus and are recovering in a hospital in Yichang.

Three other students and a teacher are in the hospital with other illnesses.

The bulk of the group — 25 students and five teachers — has been quarantined in a nearby hotel for a week, but were expected to be released Thursday.

Each student was being held in a different room with a television and phone. Hotel employees make food runs for the students, who were not allowed to have personal contact with anyone — not even each other.

“In the hotel, they’re kind of shouting across the hotel and calling each other,” Callaway said Wednesday.

Employees at Beijing’s swine flu command center and at the hotel say that the group was cleared for release Thursday. It was not clear when the hospitalized students and teachers would be released and allowed to return to California.

The group of 35 ninth-graders left for China on June 2. Before the quarantine, they climbed the Great Wall, explored the immense plazas of the Forbidden City and visited the Terra Cotta Warriors in the inland city of Xi’an.

The group had embarked on a river cruise to Three Gorges Dam when a handful of students and one teacher started feeling sick and saw a doctor on board.

Under the Chinese government’s protocol, the students and teacher were taken to a nearby hospital when the boat docked. Callaway said she didn’t know where the students contracted the virus. They didn’t have flu-like symptoms before the trip, she said.

The first cases of swine flu were discovered in Mexico and the United States, before cases started showing up in Asia.

At the school campus tucked away in the hills in Carlsbad, no one would comment on Wednesday, and all questions were referred to Callaway. Messages were left for Eileen Mullady, the head of the school, and Rick Sapp, chair of the board of trustees.

Sapp told local television station San Diego 6 that his 15-year old daughter is among the students in the hotel.

“When I first initially heard the word quarantine, we all get that sinking feeling from the nature of the word,” he said.

“She’s upbeat. She understands she’s in an unusual situation. She’s doing what kids normally do. She is entertaining herself by reading a book.”

Callaway said the group might hold an event on campus once they’re home to mark the end of the school year, which culminated Tuesday.

After the river cruise, the group was scheduled to head to Shanghai and stay with local families before returning to California.

The trip is tied to the ninth graders’ study of ancient history and water resources.

Pacific Ridge opened in 2007 as a college prep school beginning with the seventh grade.

Camp Daniel Boone workers will continue monitoring campers and staff throughout the summer after 47 people came down with symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus, or swine flu.

“We feel like we’re not over and done with it, and we’re going to monitor the situation throughout the summer,” said camp director Dan Rogers. “We don’t anticipate anything further, but like a good scout, we will be prepared.”

Haywood County Health Director Carmine Rocco said his department so far has received test results confirming three cases of the H1N1 virus at the camp last week, involving two campers from Florida and one from Georgia. Test results on four camp staff members should come back this afternoon.

But far more campers last week came down with flu symptoms, and Rocco said it’s a safe assumption they contracted the H1N1 virus because they were near the campers who had confirmed cases.

“The total we had ill by the end of the afternoon on Sunday was 47 — that includes campers and staff,” Rocco said.

About 700 campers who were at Camp Daniel Boone, which is in Haywood County, left over the weekend to return home. A new batch of about 700 Scouts arrived Sunday, and Rogers said Monday afternoon that no one else with symptoms had reported to the camp health lodge.

In Dunwoody, Ga., the assistant leader of a Boy Scout Troop 434 from All Saints Catholic Church troop said Sunday that seven scouts tested positive for swine flu. Ed Cerbone said seven other Scouts showed symptoms of the H1N1 virus, but all 14 were expected to recover.

The campers got sick after a week at Camp Daniel Boone. They were among campers who arrived June 7 and were planning to spend a week at the camp. On June 8, several scouts from a south Florida troop had temperatures in the low 100s and were experiencing mild flulike symptoms.

John Patrick, assistant scoutmaster with Troop 15 out of Charlotte, said Monday night there were eight members of the 50-member troop who didn’t come on the trip. Most of them were Scouts who had a family member who was ill and didn’t want to take a chance to become ill or cause their troop to become quarantined while at camp Daniel Boone.

“A couple of parents didn’t want to take any chances,” Patrick said. “Camp Daniel Boone staff has bent over backward to accommodate us. They tested us when we got here and before dinner tonight … there’s a lot of hand sanitizer around here.”

Workers have thoroughly cleaned the camp and distributed fliers encouraging safe hygiene measures such as frequent hand-washing. The arrival of 700 on Sunday is a fairly standard number for the camp, which draws Boy Scout troops from all over the United States, according to Connie Bowes, Daniel Boone Council executive director.

“A few people who were scheduled to come elected to stay home,” he said. “A few rescheduled for later in the summer.”

Bowes said the council sent letters home with campers who left over the weekend, and new arrivals were checked for symptoms before they came and as soon as they arrived. Staffers have used an infrared forehead thermometer to check for fevers, and they continue to monitor for any other symptoms.

“No one brought a sick child or anyone with an apparent illness,” Bowes said of this week’s campers. “We have continued to check our staff — we’re checking them daily — because they are the constant between week one and week two.”

Last week, 19 of 38 ill campers and staff went home, and the other 19 were placed in isolation to prevent the virus’ spread. Most of those who initially became ill were in the same campground area.

The camp has not closed down, and Bowes said there is no indication it should.

“We used disinfectants to clean all the bedding, the tents, the showers, the dining area — any place there’s any potential for exposure,” Bowes said.

Next week, more than 800 campers are expected. Over the summer, about 5,000 boys ages 11-18 will attend the camp.

Last week, campers came to Camp Daniel Boone from eight states — North and South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. So far, the states with confirmed cases appear to be Florida and Georgia.

Rocco said the virus is transmitted through droplet spread and respiratory means.

“Those folks who are ill with the virus, when they cough or sneeze, they can spread the virus to another person within close proximity — usually within six feet of another individual,” Rocco said. “They breathe in the virus, and they become infected. It’s the nature of having a large number of people in the same airspace.”

‘Running its course’

Bill Furney, a spokesman for the N.C. Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, said he did not have knowledge of confirmed cases in other states, but he noted that testing and confirmation would be up to those states and his office may not be alerted to them. This particular outbreak appears to be “running its course,” he said.

He noted that the World Health Organization has declared the swine flu a global pandemic. Furney’s office reports 96 confirmed cases in North Carolina, including one each in Buncombe and Rutherford counties.

“The way we look at it is it’s here, it’s everywhere,” Furney said. “It is very similar to seasonal flu in that it gets spread around from person to person. It’s different in that it’s a different season and it’s a novel virus.”

The latest WHO report, released on Friday, said 74 countries have reported 29,669 cases of swine flu, including 145 deaths. Fatalities had occurred in eight countries in the Americas: Mexico, the United States, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

So far, Furney said, the swine flu has been a relatively mild strain. In an average flu season, 36,000 Americans die from the regular flu.

Furney stressed that right now, the name of the game is prevention.

“That’s the public health message: follow those hygiene guidelines — that will do more for you at this point than anything else,” Furney said.

Joe Quimby, a spokesman with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the center has not been called in for an investigation of the Camp Daniel Boone cases.

Bowes said most of the campers who became sick had a fever that lasted 24 to 48 hours and other typical flu symptoms such as sore throats, body aches and fatigue.

Rocco said campers’ home states have been notified of the H1N1 cases at Camp Daniel Boone, as well as county officials in North Carolina. The letter the camp sent home with campers Sunday advised parents to contact a medical provider or health department if their children displayed a fever of greater than 100 degrees or other early flu symptoms such as cough, runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat, body aches, chills, or fatigue.

“Also, it’s interesting to note that the largest number of H1N1 cases are falling between ages of 5 and 24 – those are the people it seems to affect the most,” Rocco said. “So when you’re looking at the population of staff and the majority of the campers, they fall within that 5-24 range.”

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Burnham said 28 people had been admitted to hospital and that most of those had made a full recovery.

He said: “We recognised from the outset that we would be unlikely to prevent a widespread outbreak indefinitely.”

The UK had enough anti-viral drugs for 50% of the population and planned to raise that figure to 80%, he added.

Mr Burnham said people should not change their day to day behaviour and follow hand hygiene guidelines.

The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic following a sharp increase in the number of cases in Australia.

“When these cases are suspected and confirmed, the Division of Disease Control [does] a follow up with family and close contacts,” said Department of Public Health spokesman Jeff Moran, who added that no information regarding the victim’s address, neighborhood or work location has been released.

There have been 70 confirmed cases of swine flu in Philadelphia, Moran said.

All other residents with confirmed cases either have recovered fully or are at home recovering.

This is at least the 29th swine flu-related fatality in the country, according to the Department of Public Health.

According to the state Department of Health, 397 cases of the virus have been confirmed statewide in 2009.

The Philadelphia fatality is the second in the state. A 55-year-old Berks County woman died last month.

Symptoms of the virus include a fever higher than 100 degrees, body aches, coughing, sore throat and congestion, and in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

The Department of Public Health recommends avoiding sick people, staying home when ill, covering mouth and nose upon coughing or sneezing and washing hands often to help stop the spread of germs.

A foreign students’ dormitory for the American University in Cairo has been put under quarantine for seven days Monday after two U.S. students were diagnosed with swine flu, health and university officials said.

The two cases were discovered Sunday night after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms and tested positive for the virus. They were hospitalized and given Tamiflu, said a Health Ministry statement.

“The building and the people inside it have been put under supervised quarantine, their temperatures are being been checked, and swabs have been taken from their throats and mouth and sent to laboratories,” said Nasser el-Sayyed, an assistant health minister in the statement.

“Some others have exhibited high temperatures and sore throats,” he added. The ministry said that there were 234 people in the dorm, including 110 students from 10 different countries and they would be checked daily over the coming week.

The 23-year-old students, a male from New Jersey and a female from Florida, arrived from the U.S. on May 28 for a summer program at the university, but didn’t exhibit symptoms until Friday.

Every year hundreds of foreign students take classes at AUC, which has a 5,500 person student body, 81 percent of whom are Egyptian.

Police cordoned off the dorm building and sealed off part of the road leading to it, only allowing in dozens of pizza boxes.

The dormitory is located in Zamalek, an upper class neighborhood of Cairo, home to many foreigners and embassies.

The university itself recently relocated to the desert outskirts of the capital.

AUC issued a statement saying that classes will be suspended until Sunday while the graduation ceremony scheduled June 16 and 18 will be held as planned.

Egypt announced its first confirmed swine flu case June 2 after an Egyptian-American girl arriving in the country tested positive.

Travelers arriving in Egypt are photographed, their body temperature scanned and addresses taken down in case further follow up is necessary.

Egypt’s government has come under criticism for its decision to slaughter the nation’s 300,000 pigs in response to the swine flu problem.

The move has elicited widespread criticism from international animal rights groups and was described as unnecessary by the World Health Organization.

India has confirmed three fresh cases of swine flu in the last week, including the first known case in the country’s capital, New Delhi.

The Health Ministry says a 35-year-old man who flew from New York to New Delhi on Air India has been quarantined after testing positive for swine flu. The man landed in India last Tuesday and developed symptoms on Thursday.

Officials also say two men, aged 25 and 28, who traveled on a flight from the United States via London to the southern city of Hyderabad on May 31 have tested positive. They are both under quarantine.

Authorities say they are tracking down passengers in close contact with the men.

Health officials have confirmed 10 cases of swine flu in India, none of which have been fatal.

The official total stands at well above 500 after more cases were confirmed on Saturday, but Prof Hugh Pennington told BBC 5 Live the real figure is higher.

“I think it would be very reasonable to say we’ve got at least twice as many cases as we know about,” he said.

Meanwhile, a woman with swine flu who gave birth prematurely is critically ill and her baby is in intensive care.

The baby was born on Monday afternoon, at 29 weeks, in the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

On Sunday, a case of swine flu was confirmed at the British Army’s biggest base, Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire.

The soldier has “mild symptoms” after coming into contact with another infected person while away from the base.

Three of his close colleagues are also displaying symptoms, but it is not confirmed that they have the virus.

Before this latest case, the number of people with swine flu in the UK had increased to 541 after 19 more cases were confirmed in England, as well as 13 new ones in Scotland and one further case in Northern Ireland.

117 global deaths

Professor Pennington, a bacteriologist at Aberdeen University, says that because swine flu is similar to seasonal flu, there will be many more undeclared cases.

“All the experts think that the numbers we’ve got are a significant underestimate.

“In the United States, they think for every case they know about, every confirmed case, there are 20 other cases out there in the community.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere near that, but I think it would be very reasonable to say we’ve got at least twice as many cases as we know about, and it may be more than that.”

Worldwide there have been 19,315 confirmed swine flu cases in 66 countries, with 117 deaths – all in Mexico and the US.

The Lake County Health Department reported that a 74-year-old Gurnee man died June 2 after becoming ill with the H1N1 virus.

The man had “significant medical conditions” that made him more vulnerable to severe illness, the health department said in a release.

So far, all five people in Illinois who have died of swine flu-related complications had other underlying health conditions, state and county health officials have said.