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Source: http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=11200487
Grandparent: Hand, foot and mouth disease in HC schools
Posted: Sep 25, 2009 3:29 PM EST Updated: Sep 25, 2009 3:36 PM EST
HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - A contagious virus bringing fever, sores and a rash is in Horry County Schools, according to one woman. Her granddaughter has contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.
Teresa Young says her granddaughter was exposed to the virus in her kindergarten class at Burgess Elementary School in Myrtle Beach. The girl was told she couldn't return to the school until she was better.
"On Tuesday of this past week, the teacher called and said she has blisters and she needed to send her home," Young explained. "It was confirmed that she has hand, foot and mouth disease and it's a very highly contagious disease."
District officials say the girl did not catch the disease at school and there have been no reports of the disease at all. But Young says she did and no one at the school let her know another child had it.
"I'm very angry about the situation - they should have contacted the parents," she said. "I would have felt better about all of the other kids that go to the school or your granddaughter needs to not go to the school because this is going on. That way she won't get it or the baby won't get it or anyone else in the family won't get it."
Gail Moss, director of health and safety services at Horry County Schools, says the claims are not true and there have been no reports of the disease at any of the district's schools.
With swine flu spreading and other illnesses lurking, Moss says there are policies in place to alert parents of illnesses. When DHEC requests the numbers of students showing swine flu symptoms, they send them out. But starting in October, the state will require school nurses to send out reports to the DHEC and the CDC on a regular basis.
But for diseases like hand, foot and mouth, Moss says one case is not enough for an alert to parents. There needs to be a cluster of sick children, six or more students in a classroom, for them to send a note to parents.
"I don't want a note sent home every time a child is sick in my son's classroom because that's a waste of paper. Kids get sick every day," parent Karie Fussaro said. "We have to take precautions ourselves as parents for our children who are at home, so I think we really need to depend on ourselves and not just the schools."
Florence County District 1 nurses talk with administrators to decide how widespread and illness is and send notes home if three to four students in a classroom show symptoms.
There is no set policy at Marion County District 7, but if a widespread illness happened they would use the school's newspaper, website and phone calls to alert parents.
Grandparent: Hand, foot and mouth disease in HC schools
Posted: Sep 25, 2009 3:29 PM EST Updated: Sep 25, 2009 3:36 PM EST
HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - A contagious virus bringing fever, sores and a rash is in Horry County Schools, according to one woman. Her granddaughter has contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.
Teresa Young says her granddaughter was exposed to the virus in her kindergarten class at Burgess Elementary School in Myrtle Beach. The girl was told she couldn't return to the school until she was better.
"On Tuesday of this past week, the teacher called and said she has blisters and she needed to send her home," Young explained. "It was confirmed that she has hand, foot and mouth disease and it's a very highly contagious disease."
District officials say the girl did not catch the disease at school and there have been no reports of the disease at all. But Young says she did and no one at the school let her know another child had it.
"I'm very angry about the situation - they should have contacted the parents," she said. "I would have felt better about all of the other kids that go to the school or your granddaughter needs to not go to the school because this is going on. That way she won't get it or the baby won't get it or anyone else in the family won't get it."
Gail Moss, director of health and safety services at Horry County Schools, says the claims are not true and there have been no reports of the disease at any of the district's schools.
With swine flu spreading and other illnesses lurking, Moss says there are policies in place to alert parents of illnesses. When DHEC requests the numbers of students showing swine flu symptoms, they send them out. But starting in October, the state will require school nurses to send out reports to the DHEC and the CDC on a regular basis.
But for diseases like hand, foot and mouth, Moss says one case is not enough for an alert to parents. There needs to be a cluster of sick children, six or more students in a classroom, for them to send a note to parents.
"I don't want a note sent home every time a child is sick in my son's classroom because that's a waste of paper. Kids get sick every day," parent Karie Fussaro said. "We have to take precautions ourselves as parents for our children who are at home, so I think we really need to depend on ourselves and not just the schools."
Florence County District 1 nurses talk with administrators to decide how widespread and illness is and send notes home if three to four students in a classroom show symptoms.
There is no set policy at Marion County District 7, but if a widespread illness happened they would use the school's newspaper, website and phone calls to alert parents.