NEW ORLEANS - About two dozen of the 673 youth and adult chaperones from eastern North Dakota who traveled to a national youth gathering last month in New Orleans came down with symptoms of swine flu after they got home, state health officials said.
Samples were taken from five of the 26 people reporting symptoms, and all five tested positive for the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, state health officials said, according to The Associated Press. All 26 cases were in Walsh and Traill counties. All the victims are recovering from the flu and none were hospitalized.
The triennial Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America drew 37,000 to New Orleans for the "Jesus, Justice and Jazz" event based in the Superdome in late July.
Jamie Travers, a family life minister in Devils Lake, coordinated the trip for about 600 youth and 73 adult chaperones from ELCA congregations in the Eastern North Dakota Synod. Travers said Monday the state health department called him about the reports of flu symptoms among some after the event. "A few had upper respiratory problems," he said. Travers said he learned from state health officials after the group had returned to North Dakota.
About 240 of the synod's 673 traveled together as a group, with Travers, by air to Memphis, then by bus to New Orleans. None of the 673 were ill during the trip, as far as he knew, Travers said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The travel group included about 20 from churches in Grafton, N.D., and several from the Park River and Hoople areas, all in Walsh County, as well as about 20 from Hillsboro, N.D., in Traill County, Travers said.
That group of young people and chaperones, as all 37,000 at the gathering, attended rallies in the Superdome and worked a day doing cleanup in parts of New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
On their way to New Orleans, the group of 240 also spent a day in Memphis on a mission project tying blankets for use by people hit by natural disasters.
The gathering was the largest convention in New Orleans since Katrina, civic officials said.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com .
