NSW woman with swine flu free to return

A NSW woman who contracted swine flu has been told she is free to return home.
In Australia's first confirmed case of swine flu, the 28-year-old tested positive
for a weak strain of the virus after returning to Australia from overseas.
Health authorities say the woman, who is in Brisbane with her parents, has fully
recovered.
The woman was on a trip by herself through the United States when she contracted the
virus, Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said.
She said the woman began experiencing "typical flu-like symptoms" while still in the
US on April 27 and arrived in Brisbane on flight QF16 from Los Angeles on Thursday
May 7.
The 28-year-old identified herself to a nurse at Brisbane Airport as part of border
protection measures set up to try to stop the virus from getting into Australia.
The nurse, after assessing the woman's case including where she had travelled, took
a swab of her nose and throat.
Dr Young said the woman was given a mask and sent home, and advised to remain in
isolation until test results.
"She has recovered. She is doing well and she is of no risk to anyone in the
community or to herself," she said.
"Her family lives here in Brisbane and she went home to her family and has been in
isolation awaiting the results of the test.
"Those tests came through in the early hours of this morning and were a weak
positive for swine flu influenza.
"She has fully recovered and the experts believe that she was not infectious on that
flight travelling from LA through to Brisbane."
Officials have not named the woman for privacy reasons.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said it had been more than week since the woman
first became ill and the advice was that she was completely over any sort of
symptoms by the time she returned to Australia.
"All the steps have been taken, I'm advised, to make sure that if she was infectious
she wasn't given the opportunity to pass that disease on to others," Ms Roxon said.
NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca said the woman's return to NSW was a matter for
her and Queensland health authorities.