The Virginia Department of Health has confirmed the first case of swine flu in Roanoke.

The health department would not elaborate on the sex, age or condition of the person, citing federal privacy laws.

But the Roanoke City Health Department contacted The Roanoke Times after it was confirmed that a student attending a journalism workshop at the newspaper had the H1N1 flu virus, according to a statement by The Roanoke Times. The student is recovering at home, the statement said.

The William Fleming High School student was part of a planned weeklong journalism camp at The Roanoke Times that began Monday. In all, seven students attended with two employees supervising.

The student was only briefly in the downtown offices of The Roanoke Times, meeting in the lobby before heading off to Washington and Lee University for the day.

Monday was a furlough day for Roanoke Times employees, meaning offices were closed and most of the company's approximately 400 employees were not in the office, said Roanoke Times spokeswoman Karenna Glover. Additionally, the lobby was closed to the public.

Employees were notified Wednesday that the student was being tested for H1N1 and told Thursday afternoon of the confirmed test result. The company disinfected the lobby and all areas where the other six students had been since Monday, and notified the parents of the students of the situation.

Roanoke Times officials decided Tuesday to cancel the last three days of the camp, known as the Minority Journalism Workshop, after learning that the student had tested positive for Type A flu.

"Really this was to minimize the exposure to other students and employees," Glover said. "We wanted to be as cautious as we could." Glover said she is not aware of any of the other students in the program becoming ill.

Every summer since 1982, The Roanoke Times has hosted a Minority Journalism Workshop to introduce area high school students to the news business.

"We consulted with the Department of Health immediately and followed their guidelines," said Jean Sokolofski, director of human resources at The Roanoke Times, in a prepared statement. "It's important to know that this is not an isolated case. There are other confirmed cases in our area."

The news comes after Salem school officials reported the first case of swine flu in the Roanoke Valley in a letter to parents Friday. A student at Salem High School had tested positive, according to school officials.

Roanoke City Public Schools, however, were unaware of the William Fleming student's case, spokeswoman Tiffany Woods said, noting that schools were out for summer vacation as of last week.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Health was reporting a total of 135 confirmed cases in the state, including four cases in the Alleghany health district and two in the New River health district. The health department updates the number of confirmed cases online at 5 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Salem is part of the Alleghany health district.

"It's not surprising nor is it unexpected," said health department spokesman Phil Giaramita. "The one thing that we do know about this virus is that it is easily communicable. That's what led to the designation of the pandemic last week. It's easily transmissible so it's not surprising that we've seen the number of cases increase."

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 17,855 cases and 44 deaths. There has been one death in Virginia. More than 70 countries are reporting cases of the H1N1 flu.

Giaramita said it is important that people continue to follow infection control measures by washing hands, limiting contact with sick people and staying home if ill. He also said that while flu season may be over, it is just beginning in South America.

"We live in a very mobile society, people travel," he said. "People may travel to parts of the world where it is the flu season."