The Denton County Health Department confirmed it was investigating a total of four flu cases &mdash three probable cases and one confirmed case of
swine flu &mdash as of Friday afternoon, just as the Ponder school district announced it would close all campuses. Ponder Superintendent Bruce Yeager announced Friday afternoon that he decided to close all campuses until May 11 after three elementary students tested positive for Type A influenza. Although the condition of the three students has not been confirmed as the swine flu, Yeager said he thought it was in the best interest to close all district campuses. Health department spokeswoman Betsy Haggard said that because officials’ investigations were not complete, they were not releasing the zip codes of the cases. However, Haggard confirmed in an e-mail that “two of the probable and one of the confirmed [cases] are associated with Lewisville ISD, but not all reside in Lewisville.” The Denton school district did not close any more schools Friday but would confer with county health officials throughout the weekend about the swine flu, said district spokeswoman Sharon Cox. She said Denton school officials dis seminated the news of the closures of Navo Middle School and Lee Elementary School on Thursday to more than 22,000 parents within 30 minutes through a new telephone messaging system. Officials plan to use the system to notify parents quickly if they close any more schools, Cox added.
Yeager said Ponder officials had been monitoring the condition of one student who had been diagnosed with Type A influenza, but schools were closed after a mother brought a doctor’s note Friday indicating that two of her children had also tested positive for the virus.