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Flu strikes Tenino schools hard

Not H1N1: There have been a couple of cases of confirmed seasonal flu, many students home sick

VENICE BUHAIN; The Olympian | • Published October 08, 2009

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TENINO - About one-third of Tenino students have been out with flu-like symptoms since Monday, but the district has not had a confirmed case of the H1N1 virus, the illness commonly known as swine flu, school and health officials say.

However, there have been a couple of confirmed cases of seasonal flu, and the Tenino High School nurse has been sending students home if they have symptoms of flu, including fever, cough and sneezing, superintendent Russell Pickett said.

“I think we’re being cautious with everything,” he said. “If you’re having symptoms, we’d just as soon that you stay home.”

Tenino has been the only district so far this year to report large numbers of students absent because of flu-like symptoms, said Sherri McDonald, the director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.

ILLNESS TRACKED

The department asks districts to report to the county when more than 10 percent of students call in sick with similar symptoms, so that the disease can be tracked, McDonald said. She said that the department works closely with districts on reporting any widespread outbreaks of illness.

“If they had one building where they had lots of kids sick with the same symptoms, they would call because of that relationship,” she said.

Most of Tenino’s absences are in the high school, Pickett said, and the district’s other three schools are not as seriously affected. The Tenino School District has about 1,300 students.

School remained open, although the district assigned an extra custodian to the high school to disinfect shared surfaces, such as desks, Pickett said. Last spring, the district installed automated hand-sanitizer dispensers around the schools, he said.

FIRST ROUND OF VACCINES

The outbreak of flu-like symptoms in Tenino comes as county officials expect the first doses of H1N1 vaccine to become available for certain groups of people.

By the end of this week, the county is expected to receive 2,600 doses of the H1N1 vaccine, McDonald said. Those doses will be available from obstetric and family physicians for people between the ages of 6 months and 49 years, caregivers of young children, and pregnant women, she said.

The availability of the H1N1 vaccine is expected to grow in the coming weeks, and it eventually will be available to everyone who wants it, McDonald said.

She said the department encourages families to consult their doctors and to get vaccinated for both H1N1 and seasonal flu.

State and national health officials have said that the H1N1 virus has been similar in strength to seasonal flu, but the virus has spread faster because fewer people have been previously exposed to it.

Like seasonal flu, H1N1 can lead to complications for some people, causing severe illness or death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms of both include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches and headache.

McDonald said doctors no longer routinely test every sick person for the H1N1 virus, as was done in the spring.

Only people who are hospitalized or severely ill are tested routinely for the virus, she said.

Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445

vbuhain@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/edblog