Flu Information! (updated)

Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 09:35 AM

What Middlebury Community Schools is Doing:
Middlebury Community Schools are being very pro-active in our attempt to contain and minimize cases of H1N1 (swine) flu as we would any other flu or illness by:

• Isolating students who show signs or symptoms of influenza. Sending sick students home, and advising them to seek medical attention.
• Directing students to remain at home until they are 24 hours fever free.
• Following the CDC guidelines for cleaning clinics, classrooms, and all school areas.
• Teaching and reinforcing hand washing.
• Middlebury Community Schools will be offering the H1N1 vaccine to our students as soon as it is available from the Elkhart County Health Department. Please watch for more information and permission slips to be coming home with your child in October.

What Parents and the Community Can Do:
As you may know, flu can be easily spread from person to person. Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the spread of flu in Middlebury Community Schools. We want to keep the school open to students and functioning in a normal manner during this flu season. But, we need your help to do this.

We are working closely with the Elkhart County Health Department and the Indiana State Department of Health to monitor flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to take concerning schools. We will keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.

For now we are doing everything we can to keep our school functioning as usual.

Here are a few things you can do to help:

• Teach your children to wash their hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub. You can set a good example by doing this yourself.
• Teach your children not to share personal itemslike drinks, food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and sneezes with tissues. Covering up their coughs or sneezes using the elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is unavailable.
• Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.8 degrees Celsius or greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and feeling very tired. Some people may also vomit or have diarrhea.
• Keep sick children at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or do not have signs of fever, without using fever-reducing drugs.  Keeping children with a fever at home will reduce the number of people who may get infected.
• Do not send children to school if they are sick. Any children who are determined to be sick while at school will be sent home.

How to recognize the signs of a fever:
A fever is a temperature taken with a thermometer that is equal to or greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). If you are not able to measure a temperature, the sick person might have a fever if he or she

• feels warm,
• has a flushed appearance, or
• is sweating or shivering.

How to know when to use fever-reducing medications and when to stop giving them to your child:
Fever-reducing medications are medicines that contain acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) or ibuprofen (such as Motrin). These medicines can be given to people who are sick with flu to help bring their fever down and relieve their pain.

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) should not be given to children or teenagers who have flu; this can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye's syndrome.

A sick student can return to school after 24 hours have passed with a normal
temperature (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius) without the use of fever-reducing medications. As the sick person begins to feel better you may decide to stop giving fever-reducing medicines. Continue to monitor their temperature until the temperature has been normal for 24 hours.

For more information:

• Visit:www.flu.gov
• Contact CDC 24 Hours/Every Day
  • 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)

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