Area children sick with "swine flu"

Many parents in the Marked Tree School District are concerned following a letter they received from school last week about confirmed cases of "swine flu" within the school district. The letter outlined the symptoms of the H1N1 virus and offered advice for avoiding the illness, including techniques for proper hand washing.

School administrators were not available for comment as of press time, but the Marked Tree Elementary School's nurse said several children had in fact been missing school because of the flu.

"I couldn't tell you how many of them have the swine flu or just the regular flu," said LaDonna Threlkeld, school nurse.

Officials from the Marked Tree Health Department did not comment on the situation, and Ed Barham, public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, said specific information for the county is not readily available.

"There are cases of this flu all over the state right now," said Barham. "We stopped counting a long time ago."

Barham said school districts are reluctant to release information about their students' health because of privacy concerns. But, he said, to find cases at any school would not be surprising because of how widespread the flu is across the state.

"This is like the regular flu, but it's September instead of February," Barham said. The regular flu season runs from December to March. "But, just like the regular flu, this is something we have to take seriously."

Barham said there have been 550 H1N1 related deaths across the country, including one death in Arkansas. He said pregnant women, young children, the elderly and anyone with underlying health conditions such as asthma and diabetes are particularly vulnerable.

"We want people to be aware of this flu," Barham said. "We want people to be alert to the symptoms, but not alarmed."

Barham said parents should monitor their children for fever, cough and sore throat.

"If your children are sick, then keep them home until they get well," he said. "Most will get well on their own with lots of liquids and a few days of bed rest."

Keeping sick children at home is also an important way to keep the spread of the illness at a minimum.

"Being a kid is a contact sport," Barham said. "They bump into each other, play and roll around. That's why it's so easy to catch it from one another."

Barham said people of all ages should be diligent about washing their hands and try to stay away from people who are ill when at all possible, especially until a vaccine is available. He said the latest estimates put a vaccine on the shelf in mid October, around the time people will be getting their regular flu vaccinations as well.

About H1N1

The novel H1N1 Influenza A is a new flu virus causing illness in people and was called the "swine flu." This new virus was first found in people in the United States in April 2009. Other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have reported people sick with this new virus, which spreads from person-to-person in much the same way as regular seasonal flu spreads.

In the beginning, this virus was thought to be similar to flu viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America and was referred to as the swine flu. However, further study has shown that this virus is actually different from what normally circulates in North American pigs and is made up of two genes from viruses found in pigs in Europe and Asia, plus a gene from a bird and a human.

The symptoms of H1N1 flu in people are much like the symptoms of the regular seasonal flu and include fever over 100 degrees, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and tiredness. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting related to the H1N1 flu. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 flu may cause already existing chronic medical conditions to get worse.