State health officials confirmed early Sunday that a 10-year-old Fairbanks boy who died in Anchorage on Friday night tested positive for the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

The child's case is the second confirmed swine flu death for Alaska. A woman from Fairbanks who had underlying health problems was the first; she died in Washington state in July.

Health officials are still awaiting test results for an 11-month-old baby who died in Anchorage last week.

In addition, a second child from Fairbanks was hospitalized last week in Anchorage with swine flu but is recovering, Dr. Dick Mandsager, chief executive of Providence Alaska Medical Center, told Alaska reporters at an H1N1 briefing Sunday afternoon.

Officials didn't know of any connection between the two Fairbanks children but also didn't know where the second child went to school.

The Anchorage baby, who had other medical problems, was hospitalized for much of July and tested positive for H1N1, Dr. Beth Funk, a medical epidemiologist for the state Public Health Division, said at the briefing.

The baby recovered well enough to go home, but then fell ill again, returned to the hospital and died there. The baby tested negative for H1N1 during the second hospital admission, but Funk said later that false negative readings are common with the rapid test and health officials are still awaiting results of a definitive viral culture. They also will confer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, she said.

The boy who died Friday had been healthy, and his quick decline concerns professionals. They are checking whether an opportunistic bacterial infection may have invaded his flu-weakened system.

He was sent home by the nurse from Hunter Elementary around noon on Thursday; he had been coughing and had a fever and chest pain, Funk said. His family took him to an urgent care clinic, where he was given a prescription for an anti-viral medicine. But the child continued to worsen. Early Friday, he was admitted to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

"He became confused and less responsive. His oxygen level in his blood deteriorated," Funk said.

That same day, the boy was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center. Doctors tried major resuscitative efforts but he died Friday night around 10:30. No one else in his family is ill, officials said.

It's unusual for an otherwise healthy child to die from swine flu, though not unheard of, Funk said.

School officials say they are being vigilant in guarding against the spread of swine flu by encouraging hand washing and the use of hand sanitizers, and by asking staff and students to stay home if they are ill.

There are no plans to close any schools in Fairbanks at this point, though officials will reevaluate the situation if there are large numbers of absent staff or students, said Nancy Wagner, superintendent of Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

Custodians are following CDC protocols on sanitizing schools, she said.

Fairbanks school nurses will be meeting today, on the Labor Day holiday, to discuss swine flu issues, Wagner said.

H1N1 is hitting children and young adults especially hard. Colleges, along with public schools, are reporting large numbers of cases around the country. The severity of the illness is on par with seasonal flu but H1N1 is arriving earlier than influenza does normally, Funk said.

An H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive in Alaska in October with perhaps 35,000 doses to start, health officials said.

Priority groups for the vaccine include health care workers, pregnant women, children from ages six months to 18 years, young adults 24 and younger; and people under age 65 with medical problems. Those groups may be narrowed further.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.

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