A young Wolfville student who contracted the swine flu cannot be connected to Mexico or King's-Edgehill school in Windsor, and health officials say they expect to hear of more such cases.

The boy, an elementary student at Wolfville School, was tested for swine flu after coming down with mild flu symptoms last week. The tests results were confirmed on Monday. By Wednesday, the boy was back in class.

Dr. Richard Gould, a medical officer of health for the Annapolis Valley District Health Authority, said this is a "sporadic" case. He expects to hear of more cases unconnected to Mexico or King's-Edgehill in the coming weeks.

This flu is quite mild, he added.

"When we started out with this, it was a new strain. We didn't know a lot about it so we took stronger actions near the beginning. Now that we know how it's behaving, that it's like a mild strain of influenza ... we're taking a more reasoned approach," Gould said Wednesday.

Administrators at Wolfville School have washed down computer keyboards and other surfaces, but have not taken any other measures.

Principal Steve Keddy said he never considered closing the school, though students with flu-like symptoms are being asked to stay home for seven days.

"Right from the onset really, there was no discussion about shutting down the school. The information immediately was it's a regular flu," Keddy said.

Gould said the other swine flu case announced Monday — an adult in the Annapolis Valley — is not connected to the student at Wolfville School.

Swine flu cases climb to 53

The number of swine flu cases in Nova Scotia continues to rise.

On Wednesday, officials announced three more within the Annapolis Valley District Health Authority and two within the Capital District Health Authority, bringing the total to 53 since April 26.

Officials said the two cases in the Capital District are connected to King's-Edgehill, while the three in the Valley remain under investigation.

Nova Scotia's first cases of swine flu were at King's-Edgehill, a private school in Windsor. Four students came down with the H1N1 virus, but only one had taken part in a school trip to Mexico, where 42 deaths have been linked to swine flu.

Provincial health officials said all 53 cases in Nova Scotia are mild.

"As we have stated all along, it's safe to go to work and school, participate in school activities and to socialize, if you don't have influenza-like symptoms," Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief public health officer, said in a release.

Same strain as Mexico

Canadian scientists compared samples of the swine flu virus from Nova Scotia and found they are the same strain as in Mexico.

Dr. Frank Plummer, chief science adviser at Health Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, said there is still no clear explanation as to why the illness is more severe in Mexico, but there's no genetic difference in the virus.

One possibility being considered is that the Mexican victims may have had underlying medical conditions that made them more susceptible to the virus.