Last week, 498 students stayed home from school with flu-like symptoms in the Hazelwood School District. That’s down from the week prior when 631 district children were out with the flu. The district sent an email to parents and patrons stating approximately 3.4 percent of the district’s 18,500 students were out with flu-like symptoms.
Although no confirmed reports of H1N1, a district spokesperson said there are 19 confirmed cases of influenza type A, and district staff and administrators are treating it as such. H1N1 is a type A flu virus.
Between 12 and 20 staff members have also displayed symptoms of the illness.
The district is following flu guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the St. Louis County Health Department. School nurses are monitoring students and staff for influenza-like symptoms, defined as a fever greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is accompanied by cough, sore throat, body aches, fatigue, shortness of breath or chills.
“If we start to see a number of increased student absences at one particular school, we notify the County Health Department,” Crystal Nelson, RN, the district’s lead nurse.
Parents and teachers are helping to identify students who are ill.
“The parents have been better about when the kids present with flu symptoms,” Nelson said. “They keep them home.”
As preventive measures, the district put hand sanitizers in every classroom and in the school’s entry points, including where the kids come in from the playground and when they go into the cafeteria.
“Teachers are having kids wash their hands throughout the day,” Nelson said. “We’ve gone through the ‘cover your cough with their elbows instead of their hands.’”
Anyone displaying flu-like illness is sent home until 24 hours after the fever subsides and is advised to seek medical attention if symptoms worsen. The district asked parents who take their child to a pediatrician to contact them with test results.
New H1N1 vaccine
On the vaccine development front earlier this week, the CDC reported that testing indicates one dose of the H1N1 vaccine instead of two doses provides immunity for most healthy adults in eight to 10 days (similar to seasonal influenza).
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration gave its approval for a 2009 H1N1 vaccine to four manufacturers, CSL Limited, MedImmune LLC, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, and Sanofi Pasteur Inc. The FDA said the four firms manufacture the H1N1 vaccines using the same processes, which have a long record of producing safe seasonal influenza vaccines.
“Today’s approval is good news for our nation’s response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus,” said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “This vaccine will help protect individuals from serious illness and death from influenza.”
“The H1N1 vaccines approved today undergo the same rigorous FDA manufacturing oversight, product quality testing and lot release procedures that apply to seasonal influenza vaccines,” said Jesse Goodman, M.D., FDA acting chief scientist.
The vaccine will be distributed nationally over the next few weeks.
Locally, the vaccine will be distributed by the St. Louis County Health Department. The doses will be offered free of charge, with priority going to those previously identified as target populations – pregnant women, children and young adults age 6 months to 24 years; adults age 25 to 64 with underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk for flu complications; caregivers of infants less than 6 months old; and emergency and health care workers.
“We will work directly with OB-GYNs and pediatricians to hit the target populations,” said Craig LaFebvre, public information officer for the St. Louis County Health Department.
Health centers at colleges and universities and K-12 schools are also distribution points. LaFebvre said the County will have three or four public distribution sites where people can receive the H1N1 vaccine. The dates and locations will be announced after the County receives notice when its vaccine will arrive.
Doses of vaccines from the public health department will be at no charge. Private physicians will be able to charge a fee for administering the shots.