Flu Outbreak Feared
By ERIC S. PAGE and TONY SHIN
Updated 8:52 AM PST, Fri, Oct 9, 2009
A large number of the sixth-graders at a middle school have called in sick since Monday, according to educators.
It's not known what sickened the students at Oak Valley Middle School (which is in the city of San Diego but in the Poway Unified School District), or if they are even sick -- some are speculating that students have been kept home as news of the children being ill has spread.
"130 were absent on Monday, 103 were absent on Tuesday and today 112 students were absent," said Wilma Wooten, M.D.
County health officials said that as far as they know, none of the children have been confirmed to be infected with the swine flu.
School district administrators said parents have been notified about the possible flu outbreak.
"We're advising parents to keep their children at home if they have symptoms,"said Associate Superintendent Bill Chiment. He also said that they have heard some private doctors have diagnosed some of the students with swine flu.
County Health Officials said last week 400 sixth graders from Oak Valley Middle School were at camp in the East County. When they got home on Friday, some of them began displaying flu-like symptoms including fever.
Sixth grader Andrew Clepper attended that camping trip and felt sick over the weekend. He missed school on Monday and Tuesday.
"I felt kind of dizzy, headache, coughing a little bit,"said Clepper. Andrew's father said his son also had a fever, but he wasn't too worried that it may have been swine flu. "I had very mild concerns," said Albert Clepper.
School administrators are taking the situation very seriously. On Wednesday, a cleaning crew disinfected all of the classrooms and bathrooms.
The workers wore masks and gloves as they wiped down tables, chairs and doors with a disinfectant solution.
County health officials said they have begun an investigation to see what type of virus may have caused what they call an "apparent" outbreak.
"We need the facts to determine if the children are actually out due to H1N1 (Swine Flu) or due to other causes," Dr. Wooten said.
First Published: Oct 7, 2009 5:32 PM PST
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