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An outbreak of what is believed to be H1N1 flu forced state officials to ward off sections of its juvenile detention center in Montgomery County and quarantine a dozen detainees.

The five-day quarantines of three of the four housing units at the Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center in Rockville was standard procedure for the state-run facility, and none of the 12 juveniles who came down with influenza-like illness last week needed critical or emergency room care, said Dr. Jennifer Maehr, medical director for the state's Department of Juvenile Services.

It was the first flu outbreak at Noyes, but the fifth this year at the department's 14 facilities statewide — and the fourth in as many weeks.

DJS staff had vaccinated eight of the children at Noyes, but they got sick before the vaccine could take effect, Maehr said.

The first case of influenza-like illness hit Oct. 22. The most recent case was reported Thursday. Five of the children had a cough, sore throat and a fever over 100 degrees — symptoms that help distinguish H1N1 from other flu-like ailments, Maehr said.

DJS sent three specimens to a state lab that confirmed two as H1N1, Maehr said, "which probably means that the majority of them had H1N1."

Under protocol laid out in a September emergency plan, detainees showing symptoms or who have had close contact with anyone who has shown symptoms are withheld from court hearings, assignments to group homes and participation in outside programs. DJS also does not admit pregnant girls to a facility that has anyone in H1N1 quarantine.

The three housing units reopened this week.

DJS's first saw H1N1 with a 22-person outbreak in June at the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center. Lasting two weeks, DJS diverted arrestees to other detention centers.

Four swine flu outbreaks hit four DJS facilities last month, including last week's at Noyes.

DJS has screened all juveniles at intake since the June outbreak, stocked up on hand sanitizer and provided masks.

The department's cache of 1,600 doses of H1N1 vaccine is divvied up among its 10 detention centers and four youth centers, Maehr said. With between 500 and 800 children in DJS custody on any day — some 5,000 children per year — that supply is about half of what they requested.

"We're hoping that it lasts us a couple more weeks," Maehr said.

Among the county's adult inmate population, "a handful of cases" of influenza-like illnesses — the most recent one on Tuesday — have been reported in the more than 800 prisoners in Clarksburg and Seven Locks jails on any given day, said Anthony Sturgess, health services administrator for the county's Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

DOCR has not had a substantial outbreak in his 12 years with the department, Sturgess said.

Every arrest booked each day is screened by nurses, and anyone who complains or shows signs of any flu-type symptoms is isolated in the facility's medical unit, Sturgess said.

DOCR and the county's Department of Health and Human Services have been working on a plan if an outbreak pushes the jail's 28-bed medical unit beyond capacity.