The Collin County Health Department sent an update to the local school districts last evening. They have been in contact with a number of the ISDs and know that absentee rates are increasing at certain schools, particularly among middle schools in the county. They stated that the reality is school opened with flu active in the DFW area.
The good news is that it currently is milder generally than our traditional seasonal flu.
School districts are now being asked to monitor current absentee and flu or influenza like illnesses in the school district prior to the traditional opening of the flu season per DSHS start date of October 4, 2009. School districts are sending an update each Friday.
To help in our reports, it is important that parents let us know their student’s symptoms when they call in their student’s absence.
The health department is considering that the average baselines of absence for schools probably range from 2 to 5 % depending on the age group. If a school is significantly above its normal range, the district will contact the health department prior to the Friday reporting date and discuss measures such as additional parent notifications, etc.
The health departments are working on a website system that they hope to have functioning near the beginning of the new influenza season. When fully operational, this will be an automatic system which can provide more functionality to districts and aid in reports for district health officials and for superintendents.
Definitions and Explanations provided by the health department regarding reporting
What constitutes an Influenza Like Illness (ILI)? Influenza is an acute viral disease of the respiratory tract characterized by fever, headache, muscle pains, weakness, runny nose, sore throat and cough. Cough is often severe and prolonged. The clinical severity of infection can range from asymptomatic illness to primary viral pneumonia and death. Acute symptoms generally last 2 – 4 days, although malaise and cough may continue 2 weeks longer. Influenza may be clinically indistinguishable from disease caused by other respiratory viruses, such as, the common cold.
CDC Definition
The Centers for Disease Control defines a case of influenza as an individual presenting with fever of 101.5 or higher and one of the following symptoms:
* Cough, AND/OR
* Sore throat
* Headache
* Muscle ache
In the absence of a physician’s diagnosis or laboratory test results, individuals that present with influenza-like illness (ILI) and meet the above criteria should be managed as cases of influenza. Explanations provided by the health department
If a parent tells the school that they went to the doctor’s office, and they are then told that their child has the flu, this does not mean that their child has the novel H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu. A physician at the time of the visit can run what is called a rapid flu test. This is a test for seasonal flu A or seasonal flu B. They would have to send off to a laboratory to determine if the child has novel H1N1. The physician is really conducting a quick test to determine if flu is involved and what type of antiviral to use because of the resistance associated with flu A.
Situational Update provided by the Health Department
Currently roughly 85-90% of specimens being tested through the sentinel respiratory system established by the CDC are typed as Influenza A, which does include swine flu, and 10-15% of the specimens are the common cold or RSV. These percentages have been fluctuating around these percentages for the last three weeks. More information can be found at the CDC website, http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/.
In FISD, we are seeing some flu and flu-like symptoms. We put health reminders on the website last week and have sent a voice/email message to parents and staff to make sure they are aware of the information available and the need for all of us to work together to help keep students healthy and in school. Those reminders can be found here: http://www.friscoisd.org/news/HealthReminderstoParents.htm
We will not send a notice each time we hear of a student having flu-like symptoms or the flu, but if we see a spike or a large number of illnesses at a school, we will notify parents. We may see more absences because parents and students are more aware and are staying home when sick. Our teachers understand that students may be absent due to illness and we will work with them to make up their work and to stay on track. As stated above, just because someone has the flu, it does not mean they have swine flu. With new CDC recommendations, most health officials are no longer sending samples for confirmation of the H1N1 virus; but it appears that if a person tests positive for Type A Influenza, those cases are being considered and treated by doctors as “presumed” H1N1. Prevention and health measures are the same no matter the type of flu, so making distinctions about types of flu is not necessary and is not being asked for by the health department. If a parent calls the school, the nurse can give out numbers of students who are reporting flu or flu-like symptoms but due to confidentiality and student health privacy issues, we cannot provide specific information regarding a type of illness or condition that might identify a particular child.
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