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Swine flu has hit Motueka High School hard with almost a quarter of its students away sick with the virus.
On Friday the school had 138 students out of 589 away, the majority with cold and flu symptoms.
Nelson Marlborough Medical Officer of Health, Dr Jill Sherwood said limited samples taken from students confirmed H1N1 was in the school. It was doing extra cleaning of hard surfaces and had alcohol hand-sanitiser in all classes.
However, other Nelson schools didn't seem to be as badly affected.
Victory School principal Mark Brown said the virus "hadn't been terribly noticeable".
"We've certainly had children away ... up to 10 in some classes, including staff, but they've been a rarity rather than across the school," he said. "I couldn't say that it was swine flu either ? there's been tummy upsets, head colds. Just the normal winter stuff. Thank goodness."
Nelson College headmaster Gary O'Shea said it had been "very quiet". "We've had one suspected case which was isolated quickly. We've not had many problems at all."
New Zealand Kindergarten CEO Wendy Logan said there hadn't been many children away at local kindies.
"We haven't had much reported to us, there's been a couple of children in a few places but it doesn't seem to be too bad."
Nelson/Stoke Montessori director Nissa Mowjood said there had been "a few" children away sick last week. "They've all come right now and it's all good."
The Ministry of Health is warning that even though the World Health Organisation has moved to a post-pandemic phase, New Zealand was still in the midst of a second wave of influenza, and a number of South Island areas that did not have high levels of influenza last year may see increased levels soon.
Dr Sherwood said influenza could range from a mild to severe illness that was highly infectious and easily passed to other people through coughing and sneezing. She said it may take up to four days to feel symptoms after a person catches influenza.
The symptoms of H1N1 are a high fever and cough or sore throat along with headache, muscle aches and pains, tiredness and in some cases diarrhoea and vomiting.
On Friday the school had 138 students out of 589 away, the majority with cold and flu symptoms.
Nelson Marlborough Medical Officer of Health, Dr Jill Sherwood said limited samples taken from students confirmed H1N1 was in the school. It was doing extra cleaning of hard surfaces and had alcohol hand-sanitiser in all classes.
However, other Nelson schools didn't seem to be as badly affected.
Victory School principal Mark Brown said the virus "hadn't been terribly noticeable".
"We've certainly had children away ... up to 10 in some classes, including staff, but they've been a rarity rather than across the school," he said. "I couldn't say that it was swine flu either ? there's been tummy upsets, head colds. Just the normal winter stuff. Thank goodness."
Nelson College headmaster Gary O'Shea said it had been "very quiet". "We've had one suspected case which was isolated quickly. We've not had many problems at all."
New Zealand Kindergarten CEO Wendy Logan said there hadn't been many children away at local kindies.
"We haven't had much reported to us, there's been a couple of children in a few places but it doesn't seem to be too bad."
Nelson/Stoke Montessori director Nissa Mowjood said there had been "a few" children away sick last week. "They've all come right now and it's all good."
The Ministry of Health is warning that even though the World Health Organisation has moved to a post-pandemic phase, New Zealand was still in the midst of a second wave of influenza, and a number of South Island areas that did not have high levels of influenza last year may see increased levels soon.
Dr Sherwood said influenza could range from a mild to severe illness that was highly infectious and easily passed to other people through coughing and sneezing. She said it may take up to four days to feel symptoms after a person catches influenza.
The symptoms of H1N1 are a high fever and cough or sore throat along with headache, muscle aches and pains, tiredness and in some cases diarrhoea and vomiting.
