Over 100 Wellington students with suspected H1N1

[Gert van der Hoek]

Over 100 Wellington students with suspected H1N1

Published: 6:26AM Tuesday June 23, 2009



More than 100 pupils at a Wellington secondary school have come down with what is believed to be H1N1 flu.

Rector of St Patrick's College Silverstream, Philip Mahoney, says one boy has been diagnosed with swine flu, and another 100 boys are away sick.

They don't know how many of those have the swine flu virus as Regional Public Health has stopped testing - but Mahoney says it's affecting all sorts of school events.

Mahoney says they won't be closing the school as that's no longer part of the Ministry of Health's management plan.


Meanwhile, confirmed swine flu cases continue to climb around New Zealand.

The number of cases has risen to 303 with more than two thirds of these still active.

Health officials say most of these are mild to moderate cases where people can recover at home.

This comes as the Ministry of Health stocks up on extra doses of the influenza vaccine, although it offers no immunity to the H1N1 virus.

Health officials say if more people use it to avoid the regular flu, it will ease the pressure on the health system.

http://tvnz.co.nz/health-news/over-100-wgtn-students-suspected-h1n1-2793527

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Over 100 Wellington students with suspected H1N1

Hostel shut after flu outbreak
By KATHERINE NEWTON - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 23/06/2009

Swine flu has forced the closure of the hostel at a Wellington boarding school as the number of New Zealand cases tops 300.

......

Meanwhile, St Patrick's College Silverstream sent 65 of its 88 boarders home and cancelled a school dance last Friday after a boarder tested positive for swine flu and another became sick with flu symptoms.

By Sunday night, 15 of the 23 pupils who had not been able to go home had flu symptoms, as well as two staff members, college rector Philip Mahoney said.

The 23 boys who stayed at the school during the weekend would remain at the hostel, Mr Mahoney said.

"They all live too far away to get home."

The 700-pupil school was still open, but the absence rate was higher than usual. "It's about one in seven kids away," he said.

The school was not sure how many of the sick pupils had swine flu, as Regional Public Health was no longer testing every suspected case.

Porirua Holy Family School, which became the first Wellington School to close because of swine flu after an unconfirmed number of pupils contracted the virus, will re-open as planned today.

Nearly half the school's 205 pupils had been absent last week but most were now well, principal Karl Vasau said.

In Gisborne, Tairawhiti district health board reported the region's first case. A woman, 30, who had recently travelled to Auckland, had mild symptoms and did not need to be treated with Tamiflu, health officials said.

A backlog of about 200 flu patient samples at Environmental Science and Research's testing laboratory has now been cleared.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/2524863/Hostel-shut-after-flu-outbreak