Flu bug hitting schools; Southeast has most absences

Wednesday, September 09, 2009 1:59 PM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Kathy Chaffin

kchaffin@salisburypost.com

Schools across the Rowan-Salisbury system have been sending students home with symptoms of what health officials say is likely swine flu.

But those health officials say that doesn't call for the drastic measures once considered necessary to protect the rest of the student body.

Two cases of swine flu have been confirmed at Southeast Middle School.

Rita Foil, public information officer for the Rowan-Salisbury School System, said the cases were reported the middle of last week. "These two individuals may be back at school now," she said.

Absences remain high at Southeast, located on Peeler Road. Of the 90 absences reported on Tuesday, Foil said 20 were students sent home during the day after exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

"Those are unconfirmed cases," she said. "Unless they go and they're tested, there's no way they can be confirmed."

Foil said other schools in the system are reporting sending students home with flu-like systems, but none "with as large a number as Southeast Middle."

Sharon Owen, nursing director for the Rowan County Health Department, said the flu cases in the schools are likely the swine flu, also known as the H1N1 flu, "because we know it's in the community."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling for flu-like symptoms to be treated like the regular seasonal flu. Unless a person is hospitalized, Owen said, the CDC is not requiring the detailed testing to confirm the swine flu.

Both Owen and Foil said health department and school officials are staying in close contact on any flu outbreaks in the schools. Foil said a committee of school officials participated in a state Web seminar on the swine flu with health department officials last week.

Flu-like symptoms are also being reported by students and staff members in the Kannapolis City and Cabarrus County school systems, according to Jan Odell, school health director for the Cabarrus Health Alliance.

Last Friday, for example, she said 66 students and staff members were out sick. "Some were saying their doctors said it was the flu," she said.

Odell said that number of absentees is not that high for two systems with almost 35,000 students between them. Students who go to school nurses with flu-like symptoms — including a fever of 100 degrees or greater, sore throat, cough, headache and muscle aches — are being sent home.

The state lab is not doing any more regular testing for the swine flu, Odell said. "We know that the flu-like illness was in this part of the world in August, so it's pretty sure we're dealing with H1N1," she said. "Now there are high-risk groups that they might respond differently to like a pregnant lady, a child under six months of age, young children in day cares ..."

Odell said educating people about the swine flu has helped ease concerns. Unlike when schools were closed when the flu was first reported in the United States, she said, "they're realizing that one sick child doesn't mean everything closes down."

Officials in the Rowan-Salisbury School System, Kannapolis City Schools and Cabarrus County Schools are encouraging students to wash their hands frequently throughout the day.

President Obama, in his national address to students Tuesday, also addressed what students can do to stay healthy.

" ... I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don't feel well," he said, "so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter."

Foil said the Rowan-Salisbury Schools System is encouraging the following precautions and daily practices: - Wash hands often with soap and water. Hand sanitizers are also effective.

- Cover mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing. Throw tissue away after one use.

- Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

- Stay home if sick — except to go to the doctor.

- Remain at home at least 24 hours after being fever free without the use of fever-reducing medications such as Tylenol or Advil.

Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.