Thirty-six ninth-graders and seven adult chaperones from a private school in Carlsbad were quarantined today in China for fear they may spread the swine flu.
The Chinese government ordered the group to stay in a hotel in the city of Yichang after a few of the students from Pacific Ridge School had developed
sniffles, and one student had experienced food poisoning during their 13-day trip to the Asian country.
According to school officials, the group is expected to fly home early next week if testing confirms that no one in the group has swine flu.
The decision to quarantine the group is consistent with the protocol the World Health Organization set up when they declared a swine flu pandemic last
week. Also known as the H1N1 virus, the flu has stricken nearly 30,000 people in 74 countries since earlier this year, according to WHO.
As of Friday, there were 254 confirmed cases of the virus in San Diego County. No one locally has died from the virus, though there have been deaths elsewhere in California and across the country.
