About a month before the vaccine will become widely available, the swine flu is here in full force, hitting school-age children in the region especially hard.
Area schools have reported as many as 30 percent of their students absent on a given day — in some places, setting a record for the highest absentee rates in recent memory.
“We clearly have lots of children who are ill,” said Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV, health commissioner in Erie County. “We believe H1N1 is widely circulating in Erie County.”
The prevalence of the illness here comes as President Obama on Saturday declared a national swine flu emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.
Local schools appear to be the most affected. At Elmwood Franklin, a private school in Buffalo for students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, 25 percent to 32 percent of the students were absent each day last week, according to Tony Featherston, head of school.
Neither he nor anyone else at Elmwood Franklin can recall an illness that caused so many students to miss school, he said.
“It came out of the blue at us. The Friday before Columbus Day was totally normal for us,” he said. “Then we returned Tuesday, and it was totally abnormal.”
After about one week of widespread illness, the school is seeing attendance rates settle closer to normal, he said. Many public schools have reported similar experiences.
School officials say they are taking comfort in the knowledge that the spike in absences is likely to be short-lived.
Health experts are quick to emphasize that the swine flu here is generally causing mild to moderate symptoms. In rare cases, the swine flu hits harder. About 10 people in Erie County are currently hospitalized because of it, officials said.
And while no schools are likely to be closed because of the epidemic — health officials say any closure would have a limited impact on the spread — some have started taking steps to deal with the swine flu outbreak:
• The Iroquois School District, the first in Erie County to be hard-hit by the virus, has indefinitely suspended its annual perfect attendance award.
“We want to send a message that, yes, attendance is important, but if you’re sick, you should stay home,” Superintendent Neil Rochelle told the school board.
• When students at Frontier Middle School return to school after being out with a fever, they are required to take an extra step before heading back to class.
School nurses Sue Andelora and Sheryl Zielonka recently started checking temperatures when students return, to make sure their fevers have subsided. The nurses set up shop in the cafeteria, where students hand in the written notes from their parents and have their temperature taken.
“It’s a neat move,” Principal M. Kerry Courtney said.
A few students a day have been sent back home because their temperature was too high, he said.
• The Clarence schools are rethinking sending teachers to conferences and other events that are not mandatory, to avoid running into another shortage of substitute teachers like the one they experienced Friday.
Several younger teachers used family sick days Friday to care for their own sick children, Superintendent Thomas G. Coseo said, creating a higher than usual demand for substitute teachers. On top of that, four or five teachers were out of the classroom at a conference, exacerbating the situation.
Clarence High School ended up with too few substitute teachers to cover all the classes Friday. Some classes were combined, and students assembled in the library or auditorium, where students had time to do homework, he said.
“The problem is, all the districts are calling for subs at the same time,” Coseo said.
The district is considering a moratorium on conferences and other activities that pull teachers out of the classroom, probably until after winter break, he said.
Nonpublic schools are feeling the pinch, too. Rosemary J. Henry, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Buffalo diocese, said some of the schools she oversees have found themselves with too few subs, too.
“We have had cases where the principal has had to go in and teach classes for a couple of days when a teacher has been ill,” she said.
Schoolchildren at risk
The swine flu presents more of a challenge to schools than the seasonal flu usually does. Not only is it hitting earlier in the year than the seasonal flu, but school-age children seem to be more susceptible.
“The population that’s at risk is different than it is typically with the seasonal flu,” said Daniel J. Stapleton, director of Niagara County’s Health Department. “The very old and the very young are more at risk for getting seasonal flu.
“School-age children are more at risk for getting H1N1. Part of that might be that older Americans might have been exposed to a strain of this virus in the past and built up some immunity.”
It’s impossible to know, out of the thousands of students absent from school in the region on a given day, how many are suffering from swine flu.
Some parents are keeping healthy children home, for fear of exposing them to the virus. And, among the children who do have flulike symptoms, most don’t get tested. In fact, Billittier recommends that people having mild to moderate flu symptoms — a fever, plus a sore throat or runny nose — just call their doctor for a consultation, rather than going in person.
Whether it’s swine flu or the seasonal flu, the suggested treatment is generally to stay home, rest and take some medicine to reduce the fever, experts say, so there’s really no need to know exactly which type of flu it is.
Parents are advised to keep children home an extra 24 hours after their fever subsides.
Emily Johnston, a sixth-grader at Frontier Middle School, and her sister Anna, a third-grader at Big Tree Elementary, started feeling run-down and feverish early in the week. By Thursday, they were still coughing, but their fevers had subsided.
Their parents, Jeff and Patty, decided to keep them home Friday, to be safe. The girls spent much of the time taking turns on the computer, getting caught up on the work they missed.
“They can work at their own pace,” Jeff Johnston said.
Tests inconclusive
Even among people who are tested for swine flu, the most widely available tests often don’t correctly identify all the H1N1, Billittier said. The only lab in the area that can conclusively distinguish H1N1 from the seasonal flu is the lab at the Erie County Health Department, he said. The county is testing a limited number of cases each week to track the spread of swine flu.
“Of the tests that are positive, they are almost all H1N1,” he said. “There is no seasonal flu circulating in Erie County right now. People with flulike symptoms most likely have H1N1 as the cause. They may have some other virus as the cause, but they do not have seasonal flu as the cause.”
Most school officials say they have not seen a pattern in how the illness spreads. In Buffalo, though, the public schools in South Buffalo — Houghton, Discovery and Lorraine — have been hardest hit so far, according to Will Keresztes, an associate superintendent.
The first doses of swine flu vaccine arrived in the area around Oct. 7. Local officials don’t know exactly how many doses were sent to individual health care providers. Erie County government got 1,000 doses of the internasal mist. Not all of those vaccines have been given yet, Billittier said.
“Many people have contra-indications to it, or they don’t want to receive it,” he said. “It’s a live and weakened virus. People are concerned about receiving a live virus vaccine.”
A week later, the county government got 600 doses of the injectable vaccine. Officials don’t know how many more vaccine doses they’ll receive, or when.
The CDC has said there will be enough vaccine available eventually for everyone who wants it.
“It’s a question of how soon they will be shipped,” Billittier said. “We had hoped we would have much more vaccine here by this point. Now, we’re not expecting a lot of it until mid- to late-November.”
Hand washing urged
In the meantime, schools continue to encourage students to wash their hands frequently, use hand sanitizer, and sneeze or cough into their elbows, rather than their hands, to reduce the spread of the virus. Custodians are cleaning “high-touch” areas like doorknobs more frequently than usual.
Parents are asked to keep children home if they’re sick. And, if students get sick while they’re at school, it’s important that they aren’t stuck in the nurse’s office too long, health and school officials say.
“I know it can be a pain for parents, but as quickly as you can, pick up your kid. The better for your own child, and the better for the rest of the school, as well,” said Mark P. Mondanaro, superintendent of the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda schools. “Make plans now. Please be ready, because it could happen to any kid at any time.”
Many parents and students wonder whether schools would close if too many students are absent. School officials are unanimous in their response: No. “We have no intention of closing,” said Grand Island Superintendent Robert Christmann. “You would close if you believe at the end of closing, something would be different. We don’t anticipate that would be the case.”
If schools close, children would still spend time together at home, at the playground, at the mall, or any number of other places, officials say, so the virus would still have a chance to spread.
As long as the virus is still out in the community, closing schools would have no long-term effect, experts say.
“We in essence did close schools, from June to September over summer break,” Billittier said. “Within a few weeks after schools closing, the virus was back. Closure may reduce the number of individuals affected temporarily, but it would be no help in the long term.”
mpasciak@buffnews.com
Allegra Astelin Atrovent Allegra Clarinex Claritin Periactin Zyrtec Anafranil Celexa Desyrel Dilantin Effexor Elavil Fludac Lexapro Luvox Nortriptyline Pamelor Paxil Risperdal Wellbutrin Nizoral Brand Tamiflu Combivir Epivir Rebetol Symmetrel Tamiflu Augmentin Bactrim Biaxin Cefaclor Cipro Cleocin Doxycycline Duricef Erythromycin (PCE) Floxin Ilosone Keflex Levaquin Minomycin Myambutol Rulide Sumycin Zithromax Neurontin Topamax Actos Amaryl Avandia Glucophage Glucotrol Prandin
Resource – http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/838577.html
