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Swine flu concerns rise at Charleroi Area, Frazier
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Last updated: 11:24 am
Add Charleroi Area and Frazier to the list of Mid-Mon Valley school districts to be hit with swine flu illnesses this year.
Charleroi Area Superintendent Dr. Brad Ferko officials confirmed the district has six confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus - swine flu.
Absenteeism in the middle school has been unusually high the last few days.
On Monday, reportedly 40 percent of the district's middle school students were absent.
Meanwhile, Frazier Superintendent Donald Martin sent letters to parents last week saying the district had one confirmed case of the virus at the middle school. The letter also outlined precautions parents should take with their children.
The discovery in Frazier marked just the second case of confirmed swine flu in a Fayette County school district. Earlier this month, a student in the Connellsville Area School District was found of have the virus.
Ferko said the six confirmed cases are districtwide and not limited to the middle school.
Ferko said the district sent letters at the beginning of the school year about how to deal with swine flu symptons.
He said at this time there is no consideration to send additional letters out to parents.
While identified cases of swine flu have been sporadic in various Mon Valley areas, Monongahela Valley Hospital has been dealing with an increased number of calls from concerned parents about the illness recently. And the hospital's emergency department has been dealing with more children with flu-like symptoms.
Although there had been only four confirmed cases of swine flu before Charleroi Area - one in the Ringgold School District last month and one each recently in the Monessen and Frazier school districts - a hospital spokesman said the facility has been getting frequent calls from parents who are fretting over whether or not their children have contracted the H1N1 virus.
"We've experienced an increase in calls and also in parents bringing their children into the emergency department in the last few days," MVH spokesman Kurt Webber said.
The first two confirmed cases at Ringgold were students in the middle school.
Monessen Elementary Center had a child diagnosed with Type A influenza, which Superintendent Dr. Cindy Chelen said was being treated as swine flu.
And in the Frazier School District, parents were informed last week that a middle school student was suspected of contracting the virus.
"It is still our intention to keep our schools open to students and functioning as normal as possible," wrote Martin in the letter to parents. "We will continue to take steps to control and manage the spread of the swine flu virus here at school and encourage you to do the same at home."
The letter listed flu symptoms and requested that sick children be kept at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or sign of a fever without the aid of fever-reducing drugs.
Martin said the district has applied be an H1N1 vaccination site.
"If we are approved, you will receive information on how you may take advantage of this service," the statement said. "Frazier will only provide the site; costs, if any, associated with this vaccine will be the responsibility of the parent. Please note this is a service, not a mandate."
Just as MVH has been getting calls, so has UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Young patients with flu-like symptoms are choking the emergency department at Children's as more reports emerge that swine flu is targeting younger people more so than seasonal influenza.
"We're setting record numbers," said Dr. Raymond Pitetti, associate director of emergency medicine at Children's. "We're seeing a marked increase in kids coming in with cough, fever and respiratory symptoms."
The hospital reports an increase of about 60 patients a day in its emergency department, where about 180 people a day routinely seek treatment for illnesses and injuries. Most with flu-like symptoms are sent home, Pitetti said.
Parents should treat flu symptoms the way they do every year, seeking medical attention if a child develops trouble breathing or can't keep fluids down, he said.
"There's a fear out there and, from our perspective, what parents are hearing is not what we would tell them," Pitetti said, noting that only about five cases required admission to an intensive care unit.
"I just think they need to do the normal thing and keep an eye on the child. As things get more severe, they need to see their pediatrician."
Although most swine flu cases outside the United States have been relatively mild, those hit the hardest include relatively healthy adolescents and young adults, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Those people, in Canada and Mexico, deteriorated rapidly after hospitalization and developed severe respiratory failure, in a pattern one researcher compared to the 1918 flu pandemic.
Tribune-Review Staff Writer Luis Fabregas contributed to this report.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/s_647773.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Last updated: 11:24 am
Add Charleroi Area and Frazier to the list of Mid-Mon Valley school districts to be hit with swine flu illnesses this year.
Charleroi Area Superintendent Dr. Brad Ferko officials confirmed the district has six confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus - swine flu.
Absenteeism in the middle school has been unusually high the last few days.
On Monday, reportedly 40 percent of the district's middle school students were absent.
Meanwhile, Frazier Superintendent Donald Martin sent letters to parents last week saying the district had one confirmed case of the virus at the middle school. The letter also outlined precautions parents should take with their children.
The discovery in Frazier marked just the second case of confirmed swine flu in a Fayette County school district. Earlier this month, a student in the Connellsville Area School District was found of have the virus.
Ferko said the six confirmed cases are districtwide and not limited to the middle school.
Ferko said the district sent letters at the beginning of the school year about how to deal with swine flu symptons.
He said at this time there is no consideration to send additional letters out to parents.
While identified cases of swine flu have been sporadic in various Mon Valley areas, Monongahela Valley Hospital has been dealing with an increased number of calls from concerned parents about the illness recently. And the hospital's emergency department has been dealing with more children with flu-like symptoms.
Although there had been only four confirmed cases of swine flu before Charleroi Area - one in the Ringgold School District last month and one each recently in the Monessen and Frazier school districts - a hospital spokesman said the facility has been getting frequent calls from parents who are fretting over whether or not their children have contracted the H1N1 virus.
"We've experienced an increase in calls and also in parents bringing their children into the emergency department in the last few days," MVH spokesman Kurt Webber said.
The first two confirmed cases at Ringgold were students in the middle school.
Monessen Elementary Center had a child diagnosed with Type A influenza, which Superintendent Dr. Cindy Chelen said was being treated as swine flu.
And in the Frazier School District, parents were informed last week that a middle school student was suspected of contracting the virus.
"It is still our intention to keep our schools open to students and functioning as normal as possible," wrote Martin in the letter to parents. "We will continue to take steps to control and manage the spread of the swine flu virus here at school and encourage you to do the same at home."
The letter listed flu symptoms and requested that sick children be kept at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or sign of a fever without the aid of fever-reducing drugs.
Martin said the district has applied be an H1N1 vaccination site.
"If we are approved, you will receive information on how you may take advantage of this service," the statement said. "Frazier will only provide the site; costs, if any, associated with this vaccine will be the responsibility of the parent. Please note this is a service, not a mandate."
Just as MVH has been getting calls, so has UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Young patients with flu-like symptoms are choking the emergency department at Children's as more reports emerge that swine flu is targeting younger people more so than seasonal influenza.
"We're setting record numbers," said Dr. Raymond Pitetti, associate director of emergency medicine at Children's. "We're seeing a marked increase in kids coming in with cough, fever and respiratory symptoms."
The hospital reports an increase of about 60 patients a day in its emergency department, where about 180 people a day routinely seek treatment for illnesses and injuries. Most with flu-like symptoms are sent home, Pitetti said.
Parents should treat flu symptoms the way they do every year, seeking medical attention if a child develops trouble breathing or can't keep fluids down, he said.
"There's a fear out there and, from our perspective, what parents are hearing is not what we would tell them," Pitetti said, noting that only about five cases required admission to an intensive care unit.
"I just think they need to do the normal thing and keep an eye on the child. As things get more severe, they need to see their pediatrician."
Although most swine flu cases outside the United States have been relatively mild, those hit the hardest include relatively healthy adolescents and young adults, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Those people, in Canada and Mexico, deteriorated rapidly after hospitalization and developed severe respiratory failure, in a pattern one researcher compared to the 1918 flu pandemic.
Tribune-Review Staff Writer Luis Fabregas contributed to this report.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/s_647773.html