St. Clair, Missouri school district confirms H1N1 cases

KSDK -- A Franklin County, Missouri school district has confirmed some of its students have become ill with the H1N1 virus.

The St. Clair R-XIII School District sent home a letter to parents and guardians today. A copy of that letter is below:

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

We have students in the St. Clair R-XIII School District with confirmed cases of type A influenza. These individuals are not currently in school, and have already been treated for this illness. Our school nurses are screening at risk students throughout the day, so as to monitor any further spread of the virus. Due to the large number of type A influenza cases throughout the state, the State Health Department is no longer testing samples for H1N1 (swine flu), because the course of treatment is the same for all types of influenza.

For all flu cases, the recommended treatment is rest, fluids, and fever reducers. Because we anticipate new cases of the flu being diagnosed and confirmed on an ongoing basis, we will not be sending out a parent notification each time we learn of a new case. At this point, you can assume the flu virus is in the community. If the number of cases should require changes in the school's schedule or daily operations, we will notify parents immediately.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not recommend closing schools due to confirmed or suspected cases of influenza A or H1N1. Instead, this flu is treated like any other seasonal flu that impacts schools every year. Therefore, we have no plans to close school at this time.

The St. Clair R-XIII School District is working closely with the CDC and the Franklin County Department of Health to monitor the situation and to protect our students, staff, and our community. We encourage you and your family to get vaccinated against seasonal flu as soon as possible. This will offer protection against at least three flu viruses expected to circulate in our community this year. In addition, vaccine for the H1N1 flu is expected to be available later this year. Plans to offer this vaccine are still being finalized, and our community will be notified when and where the shots will be available in Franklin County.

We emphasize the healthy practices of hand washing and covering coughs, and we continue to clean our classrooms and buildings as per County Health Department recommendations. We will do whatever we can to minimize the impact of this illness in our schools and keep our students and staff healthy. As a reminder, sick students should stay home for 3-5 days if they have flu-like symptoms, and not return to school until they have been fever-free for 24 hours (without the aid of fever reducing medication). Flu-like symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Please contact your child's doctor and notify the school office if your child exhibits any of these symptoms. If you have any questions, please contact the nurse at your child's school or the district's RN, Mrs. Drewel, at 636-629-3500 x 5004. For more information on the H1N1 flu, please visit the CDC Web site at <http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu> or call the Franklin County Health Department at 636-583-7300.