• BY J.R. ORTEGA - JRORTEGA@VICAD.COM
• Originally published September 2, 2009 at 10:45 p.m., updated September 2, 2009 at 11 p.m.

• SEVERE SYMPTOMS OF SWINE FLU

  In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

  Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

  Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

  Sudden dizziness

  Confusion

  Severe or persistent vomiting

  ...
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SEVERE SYMPTOMS OF SWINE FLU

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

Sudden dizziness

Confusion

Severe or persistent vomiting

Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Just two weeks into school and already some school districts in the Crossroads are reporting an increase in absentees.

Victoria and Edna school districts have seen increases in the number of students out sick compared to last year.

Exactly how many Victoria students are out sick with flu-like symptoms was not available Wednesday, said Diane Boyett, communication specialist.

But at Edna, 10 percent of the 1,500-member student body was out Wednesday.

Neither district have confirmed H1N1, or swine flu, cases.

"This is more like what you would expect to see during the cold and flu season," she said. That season usually peaks in November.

Medical treatments for H1N1, which is a strain of type A flu, are similar, so if a culture testing for H1N1 is not sent out, a person may never know if he has it.

The Victoria school district stands by its requirement that a student will only be allowed back into school if he has been free of fever of less than 100.4 for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, Boyett said.

Victoria officials plan to send home a letter with students this week letting parents know what they should be doing to in conjunction with the school to prevent illness, Boyett said.

The school district is also sending surveillance reports to the Department of State Health Services Region 8, Boyett said. The reports are filled out by nurses for the children who get sick at school. The report asks for the first three letters of their first and last name, a list of symptoms and a paragraph on whether or not their family is also showing symptoms.

The school district's central office does not see those reports Boyett said.

She said that more emphasis needs to be put the fact that it is a mild strain of the influenza virus, and less on panic over the H1N1.

"Last spring, when H1N1 started, the CDC made a big deal that the strain might get stronger," she said. "At this point, this has not happened."

Panic may be the reason why about 150 students were absent from Edna's schools Wednesday, said Superintendent Bob Wells.

On Monday, Edna students went home with letters letting parents know that several athletic events were canceled this week because of the increase in student illnesses.

"I'm not sure how much of that is sick and how much that is fear," Wells said. "Usually, attendance in the first part of school is great. We clearly have some type of bug going around."

Edna officials have confirmed several Flu A cases but no H1N1 cases.

Some parents have called the campuses to let administrators know their child is sick with other illnesses like a stomach virus or strep throat, Wells said.

Cuero school district has not reported an increase in student illnesses during the first two weeks of school, said Helen Reese, the district's director of health services.

Like other districts, some students have been confirmed to have Flu A and some others are out sick with flu-like symptoms, she said.

Regardless, there has not been an alarming or notable increase in absentees, Reese said.

"It is my understanding that if a student comes back with positive type A they aren't testing any further," Reese said. "They're treating any type A as if they possibly could be (H1N1) because the treatment would be the same."

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