Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

There has already been 10 cases of H1N1 in the state of Texas this flu season.

Just this past week, there have been 85 new cases of H1N1 in Mexico resulting in four deaths.

But is H1N1 making a come back?

According to Dr. Bryan Smith, the regional director for the Texas Department Of Health, the cases of H1N1 is declining.

“Twenty percent of this years flu like illness has been H1N1, which is a good thing” said Dr. Smith.

Since 2009, when the virus was first diagnosed, over 44,000 cases have been reported in the United States.

Of those cases, 10,000 resulted in death according to the Center For Disease Control, (CDC).     

But this year, officials are reporting a normal flu season.

“Because as the population develops immunity to a new flu virus, then fewer people are going to get infected and that strain will just disappear and a new one will form later,” Dr. Smith said.
           
But despite the lower number, Dr. Smith said it’s still important to exercise caution by remembering to wash your hands regularly and by staying home if you’re ill.

According to Dr. Smith, the flu is still a serious illness with deaths every year.

For experts to keep up with new strains, which Dr. Smith says can develop every 10 to 20 years, they will continue to send certain specimen to the states laboratory, testing and tracking to see if a new strain is forming.