Swine flu hits Canadian summer camps

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, July 15 (UPI) -- A couple hundred youths have come down with the H1N1 flu at three summer camps in Canada, officials say.

CTV News reported Wednesday Simcoe-Muskoka District health officials said a total of 227 youths out of 1,275 attending three camps in Ontario's cottage country, about a 90-minute drive north of Toronto, had become ill with the swine flu. But the officials aren't saying which of the region's 71 registered camps are involved.

However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported the Olympia sports camp near Huntsville reported on its Web site that it had one confirmed case of swine flu and other campers with respiratory infections. The Toronto Star reported Camp Ramah, a Jewish education camp at Utterson also was one of the camps involved.

All of the cases, which cropped up in the past week, are considered mild and none of the youths were hospitalized.

The CBC said authorities at the camps are encouraging parents to keep their children at home if they spot any flu-like symptoms and have banned any inter-camp events such as competitions or exchanges.

The network said that as of Wednesday, there were 9,855 confirmed cases of swine flu in Canada with 39 fatalities.