Students being tested for H1N1 after illness sweeps through elementary school

[B.C.]

Students being tested for H1N1 after illness sweeps through elementary school
Vancouver Coastal Health is now testing ill students for H1N1
Evan Kelly VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) 2009-09-22 22:00

Tests are being done to see if H1N1 is responsible for making nearly 100 students sick (Photo: Courtesy BCCDC)

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The hallways of Elsie Roy Elementary School are a little emptier this week, after 28 per cent of the school?s students came down with flu-like symptoms.

Vancouver Coastal Health says 92 of the school?s 329 students are experiencing relatively mild flu-like symptoms and have been told to recover at home.

David Weir with the Vancouver School Board says a letter has been sent home to parents because H1N1 is suspected, but has not been confirmed.

The letter outlines what parents should watch for if their child does become ill, and how they should treat symptoms of the swine flu.

Weir says Elsie Roy Elementary is the only school in the district with such high numbers of sick students. ?Their absenteeism spiked, we contacted Vancouver Coastal and asked them to come in try and find a reason why we were experiencing such high absenteeism and why it occurred so quickly.?

Vancouver Coastal Health says tests are usually only done if a person is hospitalized, but because so many students are showing symptoms they will be doing swabs to confirm if the illness is H1N1. There are no plans to close the school.

http://www.news1130.com/more.jsp?content=20090922_213330_6608

[B.C.]

Re: Students being tested for H1N1 after illness sweeps through elementary school

113 students, six teachers, sick from suspected Swine Flu at Vancouver school

By Salim Jiwa

VANCOUVER ? 113 out of 329 students and 6 staff including teachers have come down with suspected cases of Swine Flu but the Vancouver School Board says it will not close Elsie Roy Elementary School.

The downtown school decided to remain open based on medical advice given by Coastal Health officer Dr. John Carsley, said Vancouver School Board communications manager David Weir.

Weir said a number of teachers are among 6 staff members who are absent from school and most of the children are suffering from mild to moderate symptoms of flu-like illness.

Tests are being carried out to determine if the virus is H1N1 ? which has so far killed 78 people in Canada. Swine Flu is the dominant flu currently in both the northern and southern hemispheres and a return to school has caused an increase in community spread of the virus.

The B.C. government said the latest death in Canada occurred on Vancouver Island. B.C. now has 6 confirmed death, 52 hospitalizations along with 22 admissions to ICU.

Weir said the school board is following the advice of all three levels of government health agencies not to close educational facilities even if there is an outbreak of Swine Flu.

A new bulletin issued to health officials in the past week by the Public Health Agency of Canada says cases studied so far nationally show that children under 15 have the highest rate of admission to hospital for complications caused by swine flu.

?The national hospitalization rate was 4.4 per 100,00 population with the highest rates in children aged less than 15 years of age (10.4 per 100,000),? said the bulletin.

?In comparison, the national mortality rate was 0.23 per 100,000 population; those 45 and older had the highest mortality rate (0.33 per 100,000). ICU admission rate and ventilation rate were also elevated in the population under five years of age,? said a copy of the bulletin obtained by Vancouverite.

http://www.vancouverite.com/2009/09/23/113-students-six-staff-sick-from-suspected-swine-flu-at-vancouver-school/