Discussion of...Sebelius: Closing schools wouldn't ward off virus
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Conrad Weiser swine flu outbreak influences U.S. health policy
Tactic emerging deals with how long patients should be isolated
By Erin Negley
Reading Eagle
8/28/2009
- The nasal swabs and interviews ended months ago in a corner of western Berks County.
But the results of an extensive federal swine flu study done in Conrad Weiser School District area have influenced national policy on fighting the spread of the H1N1 virus.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent investigators to Berks County in May after district officials closed the Conrad Weiser West Elementary School for a week to prevent the spread of swine flu.
The team examined how the flu spread, how long people had the virus and whether the school closing effectively slowed the spread of the flu.
While the CDC and state Health Department epidemiologists are still analyzing the data, they've concluded that
people with swine flu were most likely to spread the virus when they were sick with fever.
The likelihood went away quickly thereafter, Dr. Stephen M. Ostroff, state Epidemiology Bureau director said.
That information helped the CDC in early August to reissue a recommendation on post-flu isolation.
The new policy is that swine flu patients should be isolated for only 24 hours after the fever breaks without the aid of medication, he said.
The previous recommendation was that the patient be isolated for a week after the fever broke.
Conrad Weiser West was closed for seven days, which appears to have worked, Ostroff said. Once the school reopened, the absentee rates returned to normal quickly and investigators didn't see a jump in swine flu cases after that.
Federal and state health officials started studying swine flu in western Berks because of its rural setting.
That was different because in the spring, most of the outbreaks nationwide were in urban areas.
"We thought that this was a terrific opportunity to try to answer some very difficult questions," Ostroff said.
They studied the impact of school closings on the spread of the flu, family finances, effects of isolation and specific events that led to the increases in school absences.
While all of the data hasn't been analyzed, investigators learned the weeklong school closing didn't have a significant economic impact.
Very few parents or guardians had to miss work or only had to take a day or two off, Ostroff said.
The results were similar in studies done elsewhere.
"Many of us were surprised that it wasn't as disruptive as we thought it would have been," he said.
Health officials are still looking into how the flu spread and what the key events were in spreading the virus.
Contact Erin Negley: 610-371-5047 or
enegley@readingeagle.com.
http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=154418
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