Flu case overwhelms Reno day care center

RENO -- The first Nevada case of swine flu touched off a panic at the Reno preschool of the 2-year-old girl who contracted the virus, the owner said.

Lisa Munson, owner and operator of Fundamentals Preschool, and her husband, John, agreed to have their preschool identified and attended a news conference Wednesday at the Washoe County Health District office

But she said she didn't anticipate the media frenzy that she said has the potential to cripple her business.

"On a daily basis, I usually have 22 children and today I have seven," Lisa Munson told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday.

"I cooperated fully with the health department to stop the spread of this illness," Munson said. "I think this preschool is a safe and clean environment, but the media instilled fear in the parents. This is the flu. It is not leprosy or HIV, it's the flu."

State and county health officials said on Wednesday the preschool across the street from the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno would not be closed. They said it had an excellent record for cleanliness during its operation of more than 15 years.

"The media frenzy hyped it up to where day care centers are portrayed as bad places to be," Lisa Munson said. "We were made the story, but nobody said this girl had been home Friday with a runny nose and she did not even attend the preschool for three days prior to her symptoms."

The health department announced Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta had confirmed the girl had swine flu. The child was not hospitalized and has fully recovered, health officials said.

No additional cases have been reported in Nevada. But Washoe County Health District spokeswoman Judy Davis said Friday specimens from three other county residents have been sent to the CDC for testing and the results are expected back within the next few days.

Lisa Munson said she agreed to disclose the name of her preschool because she wanted to alert families in the community whose children may have played with those enrolled at the school.

"I didn't have to do that," she said. "The health department gave me that choice, but morally, I felt I owed it to the families in the community so they would know to look for symptoms in their children."

Lisa Munson said her good intentions backfired.

"This is just devastating for me," she said, her voice choking with tears. "I didn't do anything but the right thing. I wish you could somehow relay to parents to get past the fear."