By Laura Clark

Sara Baumann is constantly washing her hands. So much so, they have become cracked and white.

Baumann, a UK Spanish alumna, has been working at an orphanage in Miacatlán, Mexico since July 2008. She plans to return to her hometown of Louisville, but a recent pandemic has kept her behind closed gates: H1N1, better known as the swine flu.

“As of now, they have not closed off any international borders, and I hope that they won’t,” Baumann said.The orphanage, housing 600 children, closed its gates Monday afternoon, allowing only a few outside workers inside only if there were an emergency, Baumann said. Employees were given masks, until they were told Mexico completely ran out, she said.

“The general feeling is fear,” Baumann said. “It has not entered the home, but if it does, it will spread like wildfire.

“The children know what is going on (but) not to the extreme … they know that there is a virus and they are not going to school because of it, and they know they have to wash their hands a lot and not share food, but they do not know the potential severity of the situation,” she said.

Baumann described the area as a “ghost town.” Only essential businesses remain open, including supermarkets, government agencies, hospitals and the transit system.

“We are living in fear,” she said. “(We’re) checking the New York Times and the WHO (World Health Organization) Web site constantly and trying to stay optimistic that the virus will not enter the gates.”

According to the World Health Organization’s Web site, Mexico has confirmed 97 cases of the influenza and seven deaths. In the United States, 109 cases of swine flu have been confirmed, including one death.

Thursday afternoon, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced a confirmed case involving a woman from Warren County who had recently traveled to Mexico. The patient returned from Mexico, stayed in Kentucky for a few days, and is currently hospitalized in Georgia, where she became sick.

The CHFS also announced a probable case of the swine flu involving an infant, also within the Barren River Health District, who had been in contact with someone who had recently traveled to Mexico. However, the two cases are unrelated.

No cases of the swine flu have been reported in Lexington, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. Anyone with questions about symptoms, prevention and other information can call the LFCHD’s hotline at (859) 288-7529.