Marion School District 1 reports first H1N1 flu case

A student at Easterling Primary School in Marion was back in class Thursday after being diagnosed earlier with the district’s first case of H1N1 “swine” flu.

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Marion School District 1 Superintendent Michael Lupo said the child’s parent notified district officials Monday, and the child returned to school with a doctor’s note this week.

Lupo said officials at the school reported three to four children have “displayed flu-like symptoms” in the past few days. He said those students were sent home as a precaution.

A note is being sent home to parents Thursday notifying them of steps the district is taking to deal with the flu now that classes have resumed.

Elsewhere in the Pee Dee, several students attending Timrod Elementary and a student attending Wilson High schools in Florence School District 1 who had flu-like symptoms (fever and cough) were sent home Aug. 17.

Parents at both schools received a letter encouraging them to consult a physician or health care provider and to keep their children home if their children exhibit any flu-like symptoms, according to a district press release issued Aug. 18. School officials said they would continue monitoring the situation by working with the local health department.

All parents of Florence 1 students also received a letter from S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Commissioner C. Earl Hunter regarding precautionary measures that should be taken by parents and students to prevent the flu.

Williamsburg County School District confirmed a positive case of H1N1 “swine” flu at Kingstree Elementary School earlier this month.

The school district is continuing to follow the recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, according to a press release issued by the district Aug. 7.

According to DHEC reports, it was the first case of swine flu reported in Williamsburg County this year.

Since novel H1N1 flu first appeared in South Carolina, DHEC published a weekly map showing reported cases on a county-by-county basis. But over time, DHEC officials said they’ve come to believe that the county-by-county map of individual cases no longer offers an accurate picture of how flu is affecting the state.

Instead of focusing on individual cases, DHEC is now focusing its staff and resources to monitor local outbreaks or clusters of novel H1N1 flu; hospitalizations due to novel H1N1 flu; and hanges in the severity of the virus.

“We will continue to update our influenza surveillance information regularly through our flu surveillance system, which also tracks seasonal flu,” DHEC said on its site, http://www.scdhec.gov/flu/swine-flu.htm.

The approach, according to DHEC’s Web site, follows guidance issued by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on how public health authorities should continue to monitor and track the progress of novel H1N1 flu in a way that uses resources most appropriately to protect public health.

The CDC recommends that the primary means to reduce the spread of influenza, in schools, should focus on early identification of ill students and staff; staying home when ill; and good cough and hand hygiene etiquette.