Patterson Irrigator Article

By James Leonard, Patterson Irrigator Staff Writer
last updated: August 19, 2009

School officials confirmed this week that a student at Creekside Middle School was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu.

The girl was diagnosed with the swine flu Tuesday, Aug. 18, according to Dave Hodge, the Patterson Joint Unified School District’s director of special education and the manager of its nursing staff.

Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the student is in eighth grade and is expected to return to school Monday.

Hodge said there is also one unconfirmed case at Apricot Valley Elementary School. The district received notice from that student’s parents but was trying to confirm with the doctor as of Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Neither student required hospitalization, Hodge said, and both are doing fine and should be back to school soon.

Hodge said the district is being cautious in dealing with swine flu cases.

“Even suspected cases are being treated like they’re the real deal,” Hodge said. “By time I called the administrator (at Creekside), he had already taken necessary precautions.”

Those precautions include sending the child home, sterilizing his or her desk and sterilizing any common areas in the classroom, such as door knobs, pencil sharpeners and sinks.

Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the school district is following instructions set forth by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, which is essentially telling schools to treat the swine flu like the normal seasonal flu.

Sick students are taken to the school nurse. If they display symptoms of swine flu — which include fever, sore throat, cough, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea — the nurse will send them home.

And like with the seasonal flu, Sweeney said, notices will not be sent out to parents when there are confirmed cases at their child’s school.

Jane Johnston, the county’s assistant superintendent of administrative services, said that’s the directive the county has received from federal and state health officials. But that doesn’t mean it’s set in stone.

“The guidance the schools currently have is for the current situation,” Johnston said. “If the virus should change, there could be different guidance that comes down. At that point, there could be different protocols.”

Johnston said that while the severity of swine flu is on par with seasonal flu, it remains different because it affects more young people and because there is currently no vaccine for it — though one is expected later this year.

And while the schools are generally being instructed to treat this like the seasonal flu, there are some differences. For example, students believed to have swine flu are encouraged to wear surgical masks while waiting to be picked up from school.

Hodge said county officials believe the Creekside student will likely be the first of many cases at local schools. The swine flu has become so widespread, he said, that doctors are no longer reporting cases to the county unless the patient requires hospitalization.

But while the number of cases rises, fear of the swine flu’s wrath appears to be receding.

“There will be cases throughout the county and state,” Sweeney said. “It’s definitely been downgraded in terms of the danger. It’s less dangerous than had been previously anticipated.”

Hodge said students with swine flu will be required to stay home until at least 24 hours after their fever passes. That’s typically long enough to eliminate the danger for other students, he said.

“Most kids within 24 hours are ready to go back to school,” Hodge said. “When they’re most contagious is when they have a fever.”

Hodge said he’s not aware of any cases of the swine flu among teachers or other staff members at any of the district’s schools. He said classrooms are equipped with hand sanitizers and posters urging good hygiene.

“The teachers are very aware of it,” Hodge said. “They’re very calm about it. That’s what we want.

“The county basically told us, ‘This is the start of six months of kids coming to you with diagnoses of H1N1.’”

The virus, deemed a global pandemic this summer by the World Health Organization, has killed nearly 1,800 people. There have been 477 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The normal seasonal flu, in comparison, kills tens of thousands every year in the U.S.

The California Department of Public Health says there have been 104 swine flu-related deaths in California, two of those coming in Stanislaus County.

Dr. John Walker, the county’s public health officer, said there have been more than 37 hospitalizations in Stanislaus County. While ages of those hospitalized ranged from infants to 71, he said the average age is about 30.

Walker also said 60 percent of those hospitalized were women and 30 percent were pregnant women, who are notoriously susceptible to flu complications.

“Unquestionably, our biggest concern is pregnant women,” Walker said.

Irrigator staff writer James Leonard can be reached at james@pattersonirrigator.com or 892-6187.