County health officials confirmed Wednesday that two Oxnard boys were diagnosed with the swine flu. Their ages were not released.

One reported death in the U.S. has been attributed to the recent outbreak, which first surfaced in Mexico in March.

Nearly 150 deaths to date have been attributed to swine flu.

"This is not a surprise that we would identify swine flu in our county," said Dr. Robert Levin, medical director for the county health department, in a prepared statement. "We've been expecting it. But it's not a time for panic, either. We have an adequate supply of Tamiflu available for these patients and are well-prepared to care for them as well as any potential patients who may be in our community."

To help prevent the virus from spreading, health officials closed down two Oxnard schools for one week—Art Haycox Elementary School and Charles Blackstock Junior High School.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, swine flu is a type A influenza virus usually found in pigs.

Although uncommon in humans, a variant of the virus, known as H1N1, has infected people who work with or are exposed to pigs. It is then passed from person to person, the same as the common flu.

Statistically, though, the common flu has proven far deadlier than the swine flu.

The CDC has reported that more than 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized annually due to flu-related complications and that about 36,000 Americans die each year from causes associated with the common flu.

The CDC confirmed earlier this week 109 swine flu cases in the U.S. since it was first reported by health officials in Mexico in mid-March.

Texas, with 26 confirmed cases, and New York, with 50, have been the two hardest-hit states. Swine flu has also been reported in nine other states.

"We're looking at this very closely," said Dr. Allen Hooper, head of the emergency rooms at St. John's Medical Center in Oxnard and St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo.

The symptoms of swine flu are nearly identical to those of the common flu, Hooper said, which is why lab tests are necessary to confirm the rarer strain.

All swine flu tests are being handled by the Ventura County Public Health Department. According to health officials, the county health department can handle 30 tests per day.

Levin said the virus has yet to show its ability to spread rapidly in the U.S. but added that because the virus has cropped up in nearly a dozen states, "the horses are already out of the barn."

As of earlier this week, representatives at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, Simi Valley Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura said they have not had to ask the county health department to test for the swine flu.

Sheila Murphy, a spokesperson for the county department of health, said one of the boys who tested positive for the virus was first seen in the ER at St. John's Medical Center in Oxnard. The other boy was referred by a health clinic in Oxnard.

Kris Carraway-Bowman, a spokesperson for Los Robles, said the Thousand Oaks hospital is working on a swine flu hotline that will give residents basic information about the virus.

Hooper said that because the recent swine flu outbreak originated in Mexico, officials are especially mindful of residents, particularly local college students returning from spring break trips, who've traveled to Mexico in the past two weeks.

Murphy said neither of the boys diagnosed in Oxnard visited Mexico recently nor were they exposed to anyone who returned home from south of the border.

"If you live in areas where swine influenza cases have been identified and become ill with (flu)like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact your healthcare provider, particularly if you are worried about your symptoms," said a recent report released by the CDC.

Cases of the swine flu in the U.S. are rare. The most serious outbreak was reported in 1976 at an Army fort in New Jersey. More than 200 people were sickened by the outbreak, which killed one soldier.

The prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir have been successfully shown to fight the virus, the CDC reported.

Although there's no vaccine against swine flu, the CDC offers the following commonsense suggestions to keep from getting sick:

•Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

•Wash hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.

•Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, as germs spread this way.

•Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

•If you get sick with the flu, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others.