Swine-Flu Scare Halts Camps for ‘Jerry’s Kids’
June 25, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Muscular Dystrophy Association canceled its national summer camp program after cases of swine flu were reported among attendees, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Seventeen cases of the H1N1 strain were reported at camps in Minnesota, Utah, and Pennsylvania for young muscular-dystrophy sufferers, known as “Jerry’s Kids” after the association’s celebrity spokesman, comedian Jerry Lewis. Organization officials said the children’s hereditary muscle weakness and compromised immune systems make them particularly vulnerable to the disease.
The decision comes after about 1,800 kids attended 33 of the typically weeklong camps. Another 47 camps involving 2,500 children will be affected by the first cancellation in the summer program since it began in 1955.
