Re: Swine Flu in School?
Flu cases have Poplarville parents thinking swine flu
By David A. Farrell
Item Staff Writer
POPLARVILLE ? Poplarville school officials on Tuesday moved to squelch rumors circulating here that there was an outbreak of swine flu among students in the school system.
Said Superintendent Carl Merritt, ?There is no swine flu in the Poplarville system.?
Merritt said that no decision to close the school system has been made, but if that changed, parents would be notified by letter sent home with the student and through the county?s Connect emergency telephone system.
He told the Item that there was a few Type-A cases in the system but WLOX-TV in Biloxi reported that seven to eight percent of the students had been showing signs of a flu-like illness.
Merritt, contacted late Tuesday, said that absentees were running about 10 percent but he could not determine how many absences were directly caused by the flu. ?I have been in touch with the state Superintendent of Education and state health officials, and we are following all the correct procedures and trying to get accurate numbers,? Merritt said.
In addition, in a statement issued by Merritt, he said that there would be a special cleaning of buildings and grounds after students have gone home. That is a standard precautionary measure advised by health officials, he said.
He said that some health officials here had reported to school officials that there were incidents of a mild Type A flu among students but nothing other than that.
After an 8:30 a.m. Tuesday meeting, school officials, who were concerned enough about rumors circulating in Poplarville to meet in conference, issued a statement on the matter.
?We are following all the guidelines set out by the state and the federal agency in charge of this. We are taking precautions and notifying parents that if their child exhibits any symptoms of a Type A flu, they should keep the child at home and see a physician,? Merritt said.
?We are taking a very proactive stance in this matter,? he added.
While there has been some widespread outbreaks of swine flu in other states, there have not been as many reported in Mississippi. The state health department reports on its Web site that three cases have been reported in Pearl River County but gives out no other information on the cases.
In Lee County, school officials reported a few cases diagnosed as swine flu.
In Louisiana, a football team came down with a reported 20 cases.
Here in Pearl River County, Picayune school Superintendent Dean Shaw said there are no reported cases of flu in the Picayune school system. ?We have no reported problems,? he said.
In Poplarville, school officials sent out a three-page letter to parents and guardians after the 8:30 a.m. Tuesday meeting, cautioning them to be very observant to see if their child comes down with flu-like symptoms.
The statement acknowledged the rumors, and added school officials wanted to let parents know officials are ?being diligent in ... monitoring the situation.?
Added Merritt?s statement: ?As of now there is several confirmed cases of Type A influenza virus in Mississippi and in Poplarville. The cases of Type A flu that have occurred in Poplarville and other counties in Mississippi have been mild.?
The statement said that students and staff are being urged to follow proper hygiene procedures and that staff and faculty will be observing students to detect any flu-like symptoms.
Merritt said if flu-like symptoms are observed in any student, that student will be brought to the main office and parents will be called to pick up the student.
At Pearl River Central in Carriere, Superintendent Dennis Penton said school officials have received no reports of anyone coming down with flu. ?There have been no reports of flu here,? he said.
Dr. Wayne Grayson of the Poplarville Clinic on Mississippi Highway 53 South said that no tests for swine flu have been taken in the state since June, and therefore none have been taken here. He added that the strain that is prevalent in Poplarville is a Type A. He said the symptoms of the current strain that has hit Poplarville are mild.
Grayson said that a test for swine flu would not be taken unless the patient was hospitalized, not responding to medication and having complications.
He said 90 percent of the patients he has seen were elementary school students, that it is unusual that the flu is prevalent at this time of year and not in the winter, and that the vast majority of those diagnosed are ?doing well.?
The doctor said there is no reason for any panic. ?Everyone that I have seen that has it (the flu) is doing well. Some get over it without medication and treatment. It lasts about 4 or 5 days, and then it is gone.?
He said that any child that has the flu should not be sent back to school for 24 hours after the symptoms and fever have subsided.
Dr. Grayson said his clinic saw 15 to 20 patients over the weekend, but that Monday and Tuesday about 30 patients had come to the clinic for treatment.
Dr. Mary Currier, the state epidemiologist with the state Health Department in Jackson, said the occurrence in Poplarville was not unusual. ?It?s everywhere; all over the state. It started on the Gulf Coast, so it is not unusual that Poplarville would be experiencing this episode.
She said that swine flu is a Type A virus, and some of the flu here could be swine flu. ?But people should not panic; it is no more worse than the seasonal flu in the winter. If you are healthy, you should have no problem getting over it.?
However, she warned that children under 2, pregnant women and the elderly should take special care and definitely see a physician because of the possibility of complications. ?Those who have respiratory problems should be especially careful,? she said.
Currier keeps tabs on viral infections throughout the state for the state health department. She said she had been in contact with Poplarville school officials. She said that they are fielding calls from all over the state from schools that are experiencing similar problems.
Currier said a vaccination for the H1N1 virus, popularly known as the swine flu, will not be available until October and that the state health department is working with the schools to get out information to parents and other citizens on what they face in case they are it with swine flu.
She pointed to the state health department?s Web site,
www.healthyms.com as a place to get a wealth of information about what you should do in case your family, or a member of your family, comes down with the flu.
She said the fact that the flu has hit in the summer is very unusual. ?You expect something like this in the winter, but not in the summer,? she added.
?Mississippi is one of the last states to be affected very much by this. I guess it?s because our citizens don?t travel as much as citizens of other states,? Currier said.
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