Swine Flu Updates
Monday 18 January
Thank you for following our health advice. This has resulted in no new cases confirmed at SIS. Please maintain all health precautions to ensure we can keep the risk of infection as low as possible2 December
There have been two confirmed cases of H1N1 flu (Gripe A) at SIS. Both students are now symptom free and back in school.
H1N1 flu testing
There has been some confusion about how H1N1 flu can be confirmed. Please see below for advice from the disease control centre in the US.
“With the spread of the pandemic HIN1 2009 influenza virus, commonly known as "swine flu," many doctors and hospitals have increased their use of rapid influenza diagnostic tests that can determine within minutes whether you have the flu. However, these rapid tests cannot distinguish seasonal influenza from the pandemic H1N1 virus and overall these rapid flu tests often don't detect pandemic H1N1 influenza very well, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Rapid tests are those that yield results in less than a half hour and may be done in doctors' offices or emergency rooms in addition to laboratories. More accurate viral cultures or molecular tests require complex laboratory techniques that cannot be done on site in an office setting and require more time to obtain a result, so they can't help doctors decide during office visits whether to prescribe Tamiflu or other antiviral medicines.
In its own preliminary study, detailed in the August 7 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC evaluated three widely used, commercially available rapid tests using 65 clinical samples collected during April and May 2009. The samples had previously tested positive for pandemic H1N1 influenza or seasonal flu virus.
The study showed that the three rapid tests detected the current new strain of H1N1 influenza well only when samples had high concentrations of the virus. The overall sensitivity, the ability to identify people with a specific disease, ranged from only 40% to 69% for detecting pandemic H1N1. The ability of these rapid diagnostic flu tests to detect seasonal flu was slightly better, with sensitivities ranging from 60% to 83%.
CDC urges health care professionals to view results of rapid tests as just one factor among many in making flu diagnoses. For now, all results from rapid tests in suspected H1N1 cases "should be interpreted in the context of circulating influenza virus strains in the patient's community, level of clinical suspicion, severity of illness, and risk for complications," an editorial note concludes.
Meanwhile, updated CDC interim guidance on use of rapid tests to detect pandemic H1N1 urges health care professionals against ruling out flu infections based on a negative rapid test result. The guidance adds that such results should neither be used to justify infected children's return to school or day care nor to exclude flu as cause of a disease outbreak in residential facilities.
24 November
There has been a second suspected case of H1N1 flu in Reception (JH).
If you suspect that your child has H1N1 flu, please keep them at home.
If you are worried about your child contracting H1N1 flu at school, please contact the school nurse for advice.
23 November
H1N1 (Swine) flu: In recent months, and particularly now, as we enter the autumn/winter season, we have been implementing various measures at SIS to reduce the risk of the H1N1 flu occurring in the SIS community. We have: implemented new cleaning procedures across the entire school; displayed posters around the school about hygiene measures; put separate waste paper bins and tissues in all rooms; placed new soap dispensers in toilets; and most importantly been telling the students about the best hygiene measures to prevent the spread of the flu virus.
H1N1 (Swine) flu: In recent months, and particularly now, as we enter the autumn/winter season, we have been implementing various measures at SIS to reduce the risk of the H1N1 flu occurring in the SIS community. We have: implemented new cleaning procedures across the entire school; displayed posters around the school about hygiene measures; put separate waste paper bins and tissues in all rooms; placed new soap dispensers in toilets; and most importantly been telling the students about the best hygiene measures to prevent the spread of the flu virus.
To date, there has been one confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in D2. We need the entire community to help us implement preventive measures to stop the virus from spreading, and we will continue to monitor the situation very carefully. Please see the letter and e-mail sent to all families on Monday 16 November with detailed information about H1N1 flu and the measures to prevent it spreading. In particular, please reinforce our campaign of CATCH IT, BIN IT, KILL IT. If you have any further questions about this, please contact the school nurse or your doctor.
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