A lecture Tuesday about genetic and environmental causes of asthma and allergies at the University of Arizona has been postponed.

Fernando Martinez, a noted asthma expert and director of the university’s Arizona Respiratory Center, was to give a public lecture on the subject. Martinez’s research focuses on the natural history of childhood asthma and the genetic, physiological and environmental factors behind it.

The talk, to have taken place at 5:30 p.m. at the University Medical Center DuVal Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., has not yet been rescheduled.

Pima County Health Department officials were still waiting late Monday for word on whether 11 more county residents whose samples had been submitted for testing actually had swine flu, according to agency spokeswoman Patti Woodcock.

Health officials over the weekend confirmed six cases of swine flu in the county – one in Marana Unified School District; one in Tucson Unified; and four on the Tohono O’odham reservation. As of Monday afternoon, 11 additional cases had been confirmed in three other Arizona counties – nine in Maricopa, and one each in Santa Cruz and Yuma.

A total of 175 students out of 472 were absent Monday from TUSD’s Safford Engineering/Technology Magnet Middle School, 200 East 13th St. A normal day’s absence there is around 45, said TUSD spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander.

Parents of 25 students called in saying their children had flu symptoms; 16 said their children had colds, sore throats and coughs and about half a dozen had medical appointments.

Lander said another 14 students were sent home from school when it was determined they had flu symptoms and fever.

The total number of students out Monday was 189, about 40 percent of the school.

Safford also had about 60 calls from worried parents saying they were not going to send their children to school because it had a confirmed swine flu case.

Lander said she fielded one call from a parent irate that TUSD had not closed the school.

The situation was quite different at Marana’s Tortolita Middle School, 4101 W. Hardy Road.

A day after learning that a classmate had had swine flu, only 40 of the 986 students there stayed home because of their parents’ flu concerns, fewer than had been absent any day in the last week, according to district spokeswoman Tamara Crawley.

Meanwhile, hospitals were not reporting a flood of flu-fearing patients.

“We’re not seeing a big jump in the (University Medical Center) emergency department, but we are getting a lot of phone calls,” spokeswoman Katie Riley said.

“We had really no surge” Sunday or Monday, Northwest Medical Center spokeswoman Kim Chimene said Monday.

Health officials have encouraged those experiencing flu-like symptoms to call their doctors instead of going to emergency rooms and possibly spreading the virus.

Most who tested positive for swine flu here already had recovered by the time the diagnoses were made, Woodcock said. For that reason, county health officials do not plan to retrace the patients’ contacts or comb through their medical charts.

Instead, the Health Department will continue working with hospitals and clinics to monitor patients, Woodcock said. The department on Tuesday plans to release its stores of antiviral medications to hospitals.

The medicines will go only to ill patients who have been admitted or whom doctors planned to admit, Woodcock explained. Antiviral drugs would go to patients with fevers above 100 degrees and experiencing respiratory distress or other signs of infection.

State health officials said Monday that swine flu doesn’t appear to be more severe than normal flu but they cautioned that the threat isn’t over.

“It’s still the flu, and the flu kills,” said Laura Oxley, a spokeswoman for the state health department. “So we cannot say that the concern is over.”

Oxley said the number of swine flu cases in Arizona is expected to increase in coming days. Officials stressed the important thing is not the number of cases, but their severity.

Citizen Staff Writer Mary Bustamante and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Want to know what in the environment or in your genes causes your allergy or asthma symptoms?

Fernando Martinez, a noted asthma expert and director of the Arizona Respiratory Center at the University of Arizona, probably could tell you.

Martinez, who also heads the UA BIO5 Institute, will lecture on the subject Tuesday.

The event, which is free of charge and open to the public, begins at 5 p.m. at the University Medical Center Duval Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.

Martinez’s research focuses on the natural history of childhood asthma and the genetic, physiological and environmental factors behind it. The doctor’s May 5 lecture is titled “Genes and Environment at the Onset of Asthma and Allergies.”

For more information, go to www.bio5.org.

All six patients recover

Andrew Lorentine, public health preparedness manager for the Tohono O'odham Nation, says those infected on the Nation include a 3-year-old, two high-school-age youths and one who is about 20. He spoke Sunday during an influenza news conference.

Pima County Health Department workers will begin investigating this week how four people on the Tohono O’odham Nation and two in the Tucson area came down with swine flu.

“Now we will move more to what is called an active surveillance,” said Patti Woodcock, a department spokeswoman. “We will work with the schools to see if any other kids came down with the illness.”

The six cases of swine flu, also known as H1N1, were confirmed in Pima County on Saturday. All have recovered.

The two in the Tucson area are students, according to school officials.

The Marana student who contracted the flu attends Tortolita Middle School, said Tamara Crawley, a Marana Unified School District spokeswoman.

The student is expected to return to class Monday, Crawley said.

Tortolita Middle School, 4101 W. Hardy Road, and all other Marana district schools will remain open, Crawley said.

The other student attends Safford Magnet Middle School, 200 E. 13th St., said Chyrl Hill Lander, a Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman.

Lander did not say whether that child would return to school this week, but said all TUSD schools will remain open.

Lander said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the county department are not recommending the closure of schools.

However, public schools in the border city of Nogales are closing for a week as a precaution after a student tested positive.

There has been one confirmed death in the United States, a Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family.

Health workers will try to learn who the victims here associated with before they became ill and will check the health history of family members and friends, Woodcock said.

In spite of those efforts, Woodcock said, health investigators easily may never learn how the six people here contracted the flu.

None of the six was hospitalized, Pima County and Tohono O’odham health authorities said at a Sunday news conference.

Another 11 potential cases are pending analysis at an Arizona lab, said Dr. Michelle McDonald, the county Health Department’s chief medical officer.

Of those infected on the O’odham Nation, one is a 3-year-old, two are high-school-age children and one is about 20 years old, said Andrew Lorentine, assistant manager for community health and public health preparedness manager for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The flu outbreak here “is nowhere near as alarming . . . as we initially feared,” McDonald said at the news conference, held at 11 a.m. at the county Health Department, 3950 S. Country Club Road.

McDonald said there have been 17 H1N1 flu cases in Arizona.

About 36,000 people die each year in the United States from the regular flu and complications, authorities have said.

McDonald said health authorities advise people to frequently wash their hands and cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze or cough.

People with flu symptoms, a cough, respiratory discomfort, body aches and fever are advised not to go to school or work, or go to an emergency room where they could spread the flu to other people.

Instead, McDonald said, they should call their doctor, clinic or a call center for advice on how to get treatment.

Anti-viral flu treatment medication, which does not prevent the flu, has been stockpiled in the county since last week, Daniels said.

Call centers are being staffed to help people who feel ill or have a family member with flu symptoms and are concerned about what to do, said Sherry Daniels, director of the county Health Department.

It’s not the first time in recent years that Pima has dealt with an outbreak.

Last summer, the county had 13 confirmed cases of measles, with four more probable, health authorities said.

A news release by the county department last year said:

• About 2,500 people were potentially exposed to measles and told to obtain post-exposure treatment and quarantine if they were not immune.

• 500 suspected cases required evaluation and observation throughout the incubation period.

• 9,000 immunization shots were given in the 30 special clinics set up by the county.

The measles came to the county in February 2008 by way of a Swiss tourist, the release said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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IF YOU THINK YOU’RE SICK

Think you may have swine flu?

If you feel ill, you can get advice at the following numbers:

• Pima County call center, 243-7808, or 866-939-7462. The county call center is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday,

• The Tohono O’odham Nation, call center 24 hours, daily at 877-606-9301.

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ON THE WEB

Pima County Department of Health Web site at www.pimahealth.org

Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov

University Medical Center officials on Friday fired four employees for what they said was misconduct after a “staff member took an inappropriate photo of a patient” with a cell phone camera, according to a UMC statement released Friday afternoon

Citing issues related to “patient privacy and to personnel matters,” hospital officials released no further information about the April 24 incident.

UMC policies bar taking photos of patients without written permission and prohibit the use of cell phone cameras inside the hospital, the release said.

The hospital began investigating the incident and told Tucson police “after an employee expressed concerns to supervisors,” the release said..

Tucson police have not released a report about the incident, which remained under investigation as of Thursday. A police spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.

UMC officials said the hospital “would redouble its efforts to educate staff about preserving patient privacy,” according to the hospital’s statement.

SUPAI – The Havasupai Tribe is pushing back the reopening date for its reservation over concerns about the swine flu.

Flooding forced the closure of the reservation to visitors last year. Tribal camping office employee Suzanna Siyuja said Thursday that the tribe now plans to reopen June 1 instead of Monday.

Water from a summer thunderstorm surged through the canyon that is the ancestral home of the Havasupai Tribe in mid-August. Hundreds of residents and tourists were evacuated.

Tribal members live in the village of Supai deep in a gorge off of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon National Park remains open to visitors.

Siyuja says the tribe is eager to reopen because it’s so dependent on tourist income. But it’s being cautious because of the swine flu cases that have occurred recently in Arizona .

Tucson police are investigating staffers at University Medical Center alleged to taken “inappropriate photographs” of a patient or patients last week, a police spokesman said Thursday.

UMC suspended eight employees – four nurses and four patient-care technicians – for their alleged involvement in Friday’s incident, hospital spokeswoman Katie Riley said.

A TPD officer went to the hospital about 10 p.m. April 24, after receiving a call about “an allegation of misconduct,” police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said.

As of Thursday morning, police and hospital officials had not revealed the nature of the photos, which UMC workers allegedly snapped with a cell phone camera.

Photographs taken without a patient’s consent would violate UMC policies and federal law, and – depending on what the images depict – criminal statutes as well, Pacheco said.

“We’re very, very strict here,” Riley said of UMC’s enforcement of patient privacy rules. “This is just an investigation at this point.”

More than half of the nation’s population, 186.1 million people to be exact, live and breathe in communities with dangerously high levels of air pollution, new research shows.

Although there have been some improvements in the nation’s overall air health over the past decade, those gains are leveling out, said Janice E. Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy at the lung association.

And recent measures that are not yet having an effect (but likely will) are counterbalanced by the world’s insatiable need for more electricity, she added.

“It’s not nearly the direction that we need to take,” Nolen said.

But there was good news for the residents of Fargo, N.D., which won the top spot as the nation’s cleanest city overall – the only one to pass the grade in all three categories of air pollution: ozone pollution, year-round particle pollution and short-term (24-hour) particle pollution.

Tucson was one of 17 other cities that ranked high in two of the three categories. Othere included: Billings, Mont.; Bismarck, N.D.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Farmington, N.M.; Ft. Collins, Colo.; Honolulu; Lincoln, Neb.; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Pueblo, Colo,; Redding, Calif.; Salinas, Calif.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Santa Fe-Espanola, N.M.; Sioux Falls, N.D.

Los Angeles is the nation’s dirtiest city, keeping the spot it has held for a decade now.

“It will likely remain on top of the most-polluted list for ozone for a long time, but they have made improvements,” Nolen said.

Other dirty cities for ozone: Bakersfield, Calif.; Visalia-Porterville, Calif.; Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.; and Fresno-Madera, Calif.

Eighty million more Americans (175 million) than last year live in areas with unacceptably high smog (ozone) levels too many days of the year.

Proper protection and detection can allow you – and your skin – to live in harmony with the sun.

The Arizona Cancer Center’s Skin Cancer Institute will show you how this weekend.

Events to promote sun safety, awareness and skin cancer prevention will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, said Robin Harris, deputy director at the institute.

“Southeast Arizona has some of the highest skin cancer rates, other than Australia,” Harris said.

“Skin cancer is a treatable disease if found early,” she said. “Our goal is to make changes in the community.”

Arizona in 2008 had 1,380 new cases of melanoma, a skin cancer that can quickly spread to other parts of the body.

“Melanoma is deadly. If you have a more advanced case, the survival rate is not good,” said Heather Hiscox, a cancer research specialist.

The event will feature skin cancer screenings days, Harris said.

Eight volunteer dermatologists will do full-body exams, and advise people with suspicious skin features to seek further medical attention, she said.

The skin exams can accommodate about 100 people per day on a first-come, first-served basis, she said.

Attendees also can get an ultraviolet photo of their face taken, Hiscox said. The UV photo can show underlying skin damage that is not visible to the human eye, she said.

A device will be available to determine the level of UV protection different items of clothing offer.

A number of activities are aimed at youngsters, including educational puppet shows.

Protection from the sun can come in many forms, said Lisa Quale, health educator at the cancer center.

Clothing can protect the skin from the sun, she said. Long sleeves and hats are important, and she said many people forget about covering their feet for protection, she said.

Umbrellas are also an effective way to stay in the shade wherever you go, she said.

Exercising outdoors early or late in the day will avoid the worst of the sun’s damaging rays, she said.

And sunblock is a must, she said.

Effective sunblocks and sunscreens should have an SPF – sun protection factor – of at least 15 and contain one of the following ingredients: zinc oxide, titanium oxide, avobenzone or mexoryl.

Sun protection should be applied 30 minutes before going out, and reapplied every two hours, or more frequently if sweat or swimming dictate, she said.

A critical factor in preventing skin cancer is performing regular self exams looking for suspicious growths, Harris said.

Factors to look for include moles with asymmetrical shapes, irregular borders, varying color, large diameter and changes in shape or color, she said.

A partner can help check moles and growths in areas where you cannot see, she said, or you can use a mirror for areas that are difficult to view.

The Desert Museum event helps kick off May’s national Melanoma and Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month, Hiscox said.

———

IF YOU GO

What: “Living in Harmony with the Sun” events promoting sun safety, awareness and skin cancer prevention

When: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road

Cost: Free with regular admission to museum: $13 for ages 13 and older, $4.25 for ages 6-12 and free for 5 and younger.

Feel free to take a deep breath of fresh air.

Tucson again ranks among the best in the nation when it comes to air quality, according to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air: 2009″ report.

The report, released Wednesday, ranks the best and worst cities and counties based on ozone and particle pollution.

Tucson ranks sixth best in the nation based on levels of long-term particle pollution, the amount of dust, soot and other matter found in the air annually. The city ranks among the top 24 nationwide based on a measure of particle pollution over a 24-hour period.

By contrast, the air quality in Phoenix ranks among the nation’s worst – ninth out of the top 25 for ozone pollution.

For the last several years, Tucson routinely has ranked near the top of the Lung Association’s clean-cities list.

But ozone levels throughout Pima County could pose a greater risk in the years to come, the report cautions.

From 2005 to 2007, county ozone monitors reported above-normal levels on 17 days.

In March 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency increased its standards for ozone pollution, reflected in Pima County’s failing grade in the report. “It’s a pretty strict grading scale,” Pima County Department Environmental Quality Director Ursula Kramer said.

Five of 11 Arizona counties monitored for air pollution received failing grades for ozone levels.

Ozone molecules consist of three oxygen atoms that irritate the lungs when inhaled.

“Oxidants (like ozone) are bad for the body,” said Keith Kaback, chairman of the American Lung Association of Arizona board and a doctor at Tucson Medical Center.

High-ozone days can exacerbate respiratory conditions as well as harm those who work or exercise outdoors.

While the region meets EPA standards for clean air, Kramer said, residents could reduce pollution by taking mass transit, driving less and decreasing energy use.

———

READ THE REPORT

• For the full air quality report, go to www.lungusa.org.

• PDEQ posts hourly pollution measurements online at www.airinfonow.org.

The Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Arizona has been awarded a $200,000 grant to study how student sexuality, gender and conformity norms affect school systems.

The Ford Foundation awarded the grant this week for the two-year study.

Stephen T. Russell, Institute director, said in a news release that past research has focused on the connection between student sexuality and gender norms, and overall health or student well-being.

The new study will examine how schools, districts and state education systems can implement programs and policies to improve student safety and create a better world for youth.

Rich

Judith Rich knows the business of health care “from the ground up.”

She began her career as a nurse and rose through the ranks to become a hospital administrator.

On Monday, Tucson Medical Center tapped Rich as its next president and CEO.

Rich has led the nonprofit TMC HealthCare system since July 2007, serving as an executive vice president and hospital administrator.

“For many years it was not common for a nurse to rise to this position,” Rich said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. “More and more clinical people are coming up through the ranks. There’s an advantage to knowing things from the ground up.”

Rich worked at TMC as chief operating officer from 2003 to 2005. She will lead southern Arizona’s largest hospital, which has 650 beds.

“Judy has done an outstanding job in the last two years in improving financial performance and building strong relationships with both TMC physicians and staff,” TMC HealthCare board Chairman Louise Francesconi said in a statement.

Rich

Scam artists are already trying to cash in on the swine flu scare, the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona cautioned Tuesday.

The scams are coming in spam e-mails urging those fearful of the deadly virus to follow a link or order from an online pharmacy.

Many of these pharmacies are fake, according to McAffee.com, a computer security company which posted the warning on its own site.

For those who don’t fall prey to the fear factor, another approach lures fans to the scam e-mails by falsely claiming that celebrities, such as Madonna, have contracted the virus.

“Be cautious of e-mails from unknown senders, and never click on links or open attachments,” said interim President Kim States. “Also, ask a trusted physician or pharmacist about proven treatments rather than responding to an unsolicited e-mail.”

States urged anyone who responded to one of these e-mails or purchased something billed as swine flu medication to call the BBB at 888-5353 or e-mail info@tucson.bbb.org.

In his recommended fiscal 2009-10 budget, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry identified up to $25 million that could keep University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino up and running.

Under the terms of a 2004 contract, the county in fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1, would pay UPH $10 million to operate the only Tucson hospital south of Broadway.

However, UPH officials want much more.

The group seeks $30 million next year, mainly to cover anticipated losses from caring for uninsured patients.

In a proposal released Monday, Huckelberry recommends paying UPH the $10 million its agreement with the county stipulates. He also reserves another $15 million for the hospital, pending supervisors’ approval.

“I won’t say we’ll get to $30 million,” Huckelberry said.

In a Feb. 23 letter to Huckelberry, hospital officials said that in addition to $30 million, UPH would need an ongoing county subsidy “of something less than $30 million a year” to remain operational.

In 2004, the county contracted with UPH to operate Kino for 25 years. The county would pay UPH $127 million through 2014 under the agreement.

To date, the county has paid UPH $110.4 million, Huckelberry said.

“If you find a hospital anywhere in Arizona and the country that’s financially stable . . . (it) ought to be congratulated,” Huckelberry said.

For UPH Hospital to remain solvent, it may require continued county support, but “not a third of what it is today,” he said.

Republican Supervisor Ann Day has her doubts about a continued county subsidy for the hospital.

“Five years later . . . we’re in a completely untenable, unsustainable contract,” Day said. “I need a much better explanation of what we’re getting with our subsidy.”

The 190-bed hospital spends about $12 million a year providing care to the uninsured, nearly twice as much as similar hospitals, said UPH CEO Larry Aldrich. About 85 percent of the hospital’s admissions come from its emergency department.

Those patients “are not cheap,” Aldrich said Monday.

Providing that level of service means “sitting down with the county as our partner and figuring out what we can afford,” Aldrich said.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard Elías, a Democrat wants to make sure the hospital stays open, but he too has his limits. “There’s an awful lot of uncompensated debt over there at Kino,” Elías said.

Forcing greater cooperation among UPH, the University of Arizona and University Medical Center could reduce the costs to operate the hospital in the long run, Elías said.

Faced with a growing number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S., the University of Arizona has recommended that students, staff and faculty avoid all “nonessential” travel south of the border.

Paul Allvin, associate vice president, university communications, said UA is not defining what is nonessential travel.

“It is up to each person who needs to travel to Mexico to decide if it is absolutely something they must do,” Allvin said.

“And then, if they feel it is essential, they need to monitor their health,” Allvin said.

An advisory was posted on the UA Web site Monday afternoon saying travel is discouraged in light of recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If UA community members choose to travel to Mexico, the advisory asked for caution upon return to Tucson.

“Out of concern for their own health and for the health of those with whom they live and work, UA faculty, staff or students who choose to travel to Mexico are expected to monitor their health closely for seven days following their return,” it read.

The advisory also offered flu prevention measures, based on tips from the CDC and the World Health Organization, Allvin said.

“Wash your hands, cover your mouth if you sneeze or cough and stay away from others if you feel sick,” he said. “We’re bombarding the campus with that message. . . . We want to make people aware without alarming them.”

Allvin said doctors at University Medical Center and Campus Health Services are “monitoring very closely” the students who might come in complaining of illness.

“We will be taking our lead from the county Health Department. But we’re certainly on the lookout for any students who look ill.”

Meanwhile, other UA officials are trying to catalog the different connections students, staff or faculty might have in Mexico, Allvin said.

The UA Outreach College and the College of Agriculture follow most of the cross-border research, Allvin said, but UA is also concerned with UA students who are from Mexico, UA study abroad students in Mexico and students, faculty and staff who have relatives south of the border.