At least 69 sailors and Marines tested positive for H1N1 swine flu within a Navy ship group now visiting Hawai'i.

The Navy has quarantined an undetermined number of crew members with flulike symptoms on the ships, which are part of the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group.

Thousands of other sailors and Marines on the ships are in Hawai'i on leave.

Both the Navy and state Health Department yesterday downplayed the potential for spread of swine flu ashore from the sailors.

"There aren't any sailors or Marines that are on liberty in Hawai'i that have any flulike symptoms," said Cmdr. Dora Lockwood, a spokeswoman for the Navy's 3rd Fleet in San Diego. "They are not allowed to go on liberty."

Janice Okubo, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department, said the state was notified July 14 of the flu symptoms and swine flu outbreak on the Boxer ship group, which arrived Friday.

The Boxer amphibious group is transiting back to San Diego after a seven-month deployment including anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and duty ashore at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.

The quarantined Navy and Marine Corps personnel are on the amphibious assault ship Boxer, the dock landing ship Comstock, the cruiser Lake Champlain and the amphibious transport dock ship New Orleans, said Lockwood.

The Pearl Harbor-based guided missile destroyer Chung-Hoon, which returned home yesterday, is also part of the Boxer group.

The Boxer, Comstock and Lake Champlain are in port at Pearl Harbor, while the New Orleans is not in port here but may be in the vicinity of Hawai'i, said Lockwood, who wasn't sure of the ship's location.

"Everybody seems to be doing well and is recovering," Lockwood said yesterday evening.

The amphibious ready group includes the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,200 Marines.

Lockwood said last night she was not sure of the number of confirmed cases of swine flu or number of quarantined sailors on the four ships in or near Pearl Harbor, but that that information might be available today.

'NOT AS BIG OF AN ISSUE'

Okubo said the Health Department did express concern to the Navy about the flu outbreak in the Boxer group.

"But at the same time, already having community transmission in the Islands, it's not as big of an issue," she said. She said there have been more than 1,000 cases of H1N1 swine flu in Hawai'i.

Okubo said it's concerning any time there are more people in the Islands with illness, "but we were given the understanding that they (the Navy) were taking many, many precautionary measures."

Okubo added that the Health Department was notified of the outbreak, "but in general, we don't have jurisdiction over water vessels."

The Health Department received notification about the Navy outbreak from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine office, which was in contact with the Boxer group, Okubo said.

Okubo said 125 individuals were tested for H1N1 and 69 tested positive. Since then, all 69 have fully recovered and returned to duty, she said.

Lockwood, the Navy spokeswoman, said only that there have been confirmed cases on the Boxer, an amphibious assault ship that looks similar to an aircraft carrier and is used for helicopter and Harrier jump jet operations.

Lockwood said part of the reason she didn't have the specific number of confirmed cases last night is because of the way the illness progresses.

"So sailors that exhibit the illness come to (the medical department) and then basically what happens is they have to have their tests sent off to be confirmed," she said. "So it's difficult to track because the numbers that are confirmed today, they may be in recovery and sent back to work tomorrow, and we may have additional people coming in tomorrow."

Lockwood said the quarantined sailors who have flulike symptoms are isolated on the ship, are being treated with Tamiflu, and are not allowed to go on liberty.

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN

The Pacific Daily News reported on July 8 that the Boxer, Comstock and Lake Champlain, which were set to pull into port in Guam, instead were resupplied offshore as a precautionary measure when flulike symptoms were noted.

According to a Navy Times story on July 12, the flulike cases forced Navy and Marine Corps commanders to cancel their planned "tiger cruise" for families to sail with crew members on the last leg of the deployment from Hawai'i to San Diego.

"We have no way to confirm H1N1 on the ship," Lt. Cate Wallace, a U.S. 7th Fleet spokeswoman in Yokosuka, Japan, said in the July 12 story.

She added that "if a sailor exhibits flulike symptoms, the same protocol is going to be followed," including prescribed rest and isolation. "Even if we can't confirm it (as swine flu), we are going to err on the side of caution."

The Navy Compass, the Navy-produced newspaper in San Diego, said after a nearly seven-month deployment, the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit made the port visit to Hawai'i on Friday.

Boxer's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department arranged "numerous tours and activities for the crew" including a snorkeling trip and a hike up Diamond Head.

The newspaper said Boxer would undergo brief scheduled maintenance before continuing on to its homeport of San Diego.

The amphibious ready group includes Boxer, New Orleans, Comstock, Chung-Hoon, Lake Champlain, and the Coast Guard cutter Boutwell.