Be prepared, be smart, and be ready to quarantine your children.
That’s the strategy for fighting H1N1 flu, explained Harvard Public Schools Head Nurse Colleen Nigzus at the Board of Health (BOH) meeting Aug. 25. Nigzus will repeat the message at the board’s fall forum on Lyme disease and H1N1, the so-called swine flu.
“We just try to be proactive and make sure the schools are a safe place for all the kids,” Nigzus said. She explained that concern in the health-care community is focused on where groups “cluster,” such as classes, teams, clubs, and so on. The flu spreads quickly among such groups, as borne out by schools in Kentucky and Tennessee that were forced to close within weeks of opening in August.
Nigzus and board member Lorin Johnson attended an Aug. 17 flu update session conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), which is urging communities to conduct their own flu clinics either during or after school hours. Vaccination will be voluntary, and parental permission will be required.
“We need to make sure things are in place when school opens,” Nigzus said. She plans to especially target the younger grades by providing demonstrations on such things as proper hand washing and coughing into a sleeve. Informational packets will be sent home to parents; newsletters, ConnectEd, and e-mails to staff members and parents will be used to keep them updated. Hand sanitizers will be available in all classrooms and bathrooms.
“Are you nervous?” member Jack Spero asked Nigzus. No, she said. If people follow the guidelines, she explained, everyone will benefit. Good hygiene and quarantining sick people are key. The Harvard schools will be working with Nashoba Nursing Services (NNS) and the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health (NABH) to select a vaccination site, which will be at a regional location or in the schools themselves.
The CDC recommends the standard two-dose vaccine for five categories of people: pregnant women; healthcare workers; people who live with or care for babies younger than 6 months of age; the 6-month to 24-year-old group; and adults 25 to 64 who have health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, or chronic heart or lung disease.
The vaccine is presently in trials, said Nigzus, and should be dispensed in October, first to health-care providers. The location of local flu clinics is now being discussed with NNS and NABH.
While the public health agencies are promoting the safety of the vaccine, not everyone is convinced. Some critics worry that it has not been sufficiently tested. Health board member Lorin Johnson has reservations. “[DPH] literally doesn’t know if it’s safe. When a nurse [at the Aug. 17 DPH conference] asked the [health] official if it’s safe, he said he hoped everyone would act in the interests of their community. It’s a dodge.”
BOH Chairman Tom Philippou, who is a pharmacist and emergency medical technician, is concerned about the possible mutation of H1N1 into a more virulent form of the virus. Nigzus replied that the plan is to keep the schools open as long as possible, and to take a wait-and-see attitude. If clusters of ill children form, however, “we’ll discuss it with the Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention (CDC)] and see which route to take,” she said.
Should a more severe form of H1N1 develop, CDC officials are prepared to add “adjuvants,” such as Squalene, to the vaccine to further boost the immune system.
H1N1, like the seasonal flu, is spread mainly through coughing or sneezing. It consists of a fever and at least a cough or sore throat, and possibly a runny nose, body aches, a headache, chills, fatigue, vomiting, or diarrhea. “If your child has “a fever over 100 degrees, take your kid out of school,” Nigzus cautioned.
