Schools May Serve Swine Flu Vaccines
Testing on Humans for H1N1 Vaccine Began in August
Aug 16, 2009
As the clinical trials continue for the new vaccine against swine flu, health and education professionals are urging that public schools be used as vaccination centers in the fall.
"The vaccine over time will be available to every child," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview with the Associated Press. "And I personally think the best place for them to have access would be at their local school or at a school in their neighborhood."
According to an Associated Press review, there are nearly 3 million students served by districts across the country that wish to offer the vaccine as soon as it is ready in order to reduce the number of outbreaks and school closings.
Outbreak Of Swine Flu In The Spring Pushing Scientists
The Center For Disease Control and Prevention has reported that since last Spring nearly one million Americans have been diagnosed with the strain of flu known as swine flu, or H1N1. Classified as a pandemic, the flu has claimed lives across the globe and has caused a sense of panic across the nation.
Last spring nearly 700 schools were temporarily closed due to the resiliant strain of the flu thought to have originated in Mexico in early 2009. The virus was dubbed swine flu due to the fact that in past years, most who contracted the disease worked directly with and around pigs or farm equipment having to do with swine. International travel and a unique strain of the virus caused H1N1 to spread quickly from Mexico to the most outer reaches of civilization and it is still being diagnosed throughout the world.
Symptoms Of Swine Flu
Swine flu presents the same as any other viral infection. Symptoms can include:
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- headache
- chills
- cough
- body aches
- fatigue
- vomiting and/or diarrhea
In severe cases, swine flu can lead to pneumonia and respiratory failure.
While most who contract swine flu are able to fight off the viral infection, those most at risk include the already infirmed, elderly and young. Contraction of the disease also increases with the amount of contact large groups of people have with one another, which is the reason the school year poses a unique risk. Large groups of children in close quarters has the government, school officials and parents concerned over the risk of a mass outbreak. In Louisiana there have already been reports of twenty football players at the same high school either infected by or recovering from H1N1.
School Sessions Offers an Opening for Mass Contagions
GlaxoSmithKline began testing a vaccine for swine flu in August and should have the result of the study in early September. Shipments to local schools who wish to offer the vaccination to children should occur in October, according to the CDC.
The National School Board Association recently reported that nearly three-fourths of districts surveyed in America said they would agree to holding vaccination on school campuses. The vaccinations, which would be supplied free by the government, would arrive at schools in October after testing and manufacturing have been completed according to GlaxoSmithKline.
If these vaccination do begin in the Fall it will be the most widespread case of school vaccinations since polio ran rampant in the 1930s and 1940s.
Medical Prevention Before Vaccination Stresses Germ Control
Before vaccines are used, doctors are stressing the importance of common sense advice concerning the spread of the illness.
Frequent hand-washing and covering of one's face and mouth when sneezing and coughing are being taught in schools and facial masks are being stocked across America. School administrators are also stressing that people who do become ill, or think that their children are sick, stay home and away from schools and other people until they are diagnosed by a physician.
In order to accurately diagnosis swine flu from other more common flu strains, a respiratory specimen must be collected within the first four to five days of the onset of illness. Swine flu is currently being treated the same as other viral infections, with anti-viral medications including amantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. Other than drug control, typical advice applies in treating swine flu including bed rest and fluid loading.
Most doctors agree that even if a child is diagnosed with the H1N1 strain, he or she may be returned to school twenty-four hours after the last sign of fever has dissipated.The main goal at this time, as more and more children return to school is to offer common sense, kid-friendly advice such as hand washing so the playground does not become a breeding ground.
For up-to-date information and case by case tracking of swine flu outbreaks the public can visit the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Those with questions concerning their school districts should call or contact their local school boards or departments of health with any questions or concerns.
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