School Takes ‘Awareness Mode’ Response To Swine Flu Outbreak

"We’re getting in more of an awareness mode," Quinlan Independent School District Supt. Micheal French said Monday in response to the nationwide public health emergency declaration on swine flu.

The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday issued the declaration after human infections of swine flu. The infections were caused by the newly discovered swine influenza A virus.

French said the district was making information available at the campus level. He said steps were also being taken in cleaning and disinfection. He said although cleaning and disinfection was something the district did already on a routine basis, an additional emphasis would be placed on it.

District Nurse Donna Hopson said she had referred all of her nurses at the district’s various campuses to a question-and-answer fact sheet regarding swine flu that includes symptoms to look for.

"We’re playing it by ear," Hopson said of the outbreak that began in Mexico and had spread to some states including Texas by early this week. She noted that no local cases had been found. She had also been in contact with the Hunt County Health Department and said it would keep her posted on updates and any changes.

Hopson recommended that everyone use standard sanitary guidelines including "good old hand-washing," not sharing from eating utensils, coughing into a sleeve or Kleenex — "the normal stuff."

She encouraged parents of children running a fever to keep them at home. She said they should remain at home 24 hours after they were fever free.

Hopson said she was concerned that since the school year would soon come to a close, some students were at risk because of earlier excessive absences. She said parents might attempt to medicate the conditions and send them on to school. She said that although Tylenol might mask the symptoms, the risk remained of further infection.

Hopson said the normal flu season usually ended in April. She said the numbers of those sick were typically larger near spring break and trailed by April.

As of Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services reported cases of swine Influenza A (swH1N1) in other countries around the world and several states including cases in Richardson. No deaths in the U.S. had been reported due to the illness.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans; however, human infections with swine flu do occur, and cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu viruses have been documented.

The public health emergency declaration is available at www.hhs.gov/secretary/phe_swh1n1.html. For information on swine flu, visit www.cdc.gov/swineflu.