Schools assess swine flu options

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Area schools remain on the alert for cases of swine flu after the head of a suburban Atlanta school ordered the 1,200-student academy closed for two weeks because a 14-year-old student tested positive for the virus Monday.

Barrow County schools Superintendent Ron Saunders almost faced the decision last week, but an ill student's swine flu test was negative, he said.

"We were sort of in a mode. ... We were just waiting for results," Saunders said.

Positive results - when a student or teacher gets a confirmed case of swine flu - means the local superintendent has a decision to make: whether to close the school or every school in the district until the threat of contagion eases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends closing a school for two weeks when lab tests confirm that someone has swine flu - or even if there's a probable case.

"I'd have to have some information from local authorities ... that what we have is actually swine flu (before closing)," said Oconee County schools Superintendent John Jackson. "To base a school closure on a probable case - I think I'd have to have more information."

The policy in Barrow County and other area systems requires students with flu-like symptoms to be quarantined during the school day until a parent can pick them up from school.

In Barrow County, school nurses are required to check up on students, Saunders said.

"We advise (parents) to take their child right then to take them to a physician, then we follow up either that day or the next day," he said.

It's up to the doctor to conduct what's called a rapid flu test, to find out quickly if the student has swine flu.

If the test comes back inconclusive, the doctor must send a sample from the patient to the state Division of Public Health for further testing, according to Steven Dumpert, a risk communicator for the Northeast Health District, a network of 18 health clinics in 10 counties in and around Athens.

Once tests are completed, results are supposed to be communicated back to doctors and the local health department within 48 hours, Dumpert said.

As far as deciding when to close a school, most administrators wait for results of the tests - and for further guidance from health officials, Saunders and other area school leaders said.

"We're not just going to go out and (close a school)," Saunders said. "We don't want to put panic in the streets, so to speak. We want to act cautiously and carefully and do what's right. ... We would follow their suggestion."

At least 533 schools enrolling about 334,000 children had closed across the country as of Monday because of the outbreak, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The schools are in about two dozen states. There are 132,000 schools in the United States.

Swine Flu overview

Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and government officials:

► Deaths: 26 confirmed in Mexico and one confirmed in U.S., a toddler from Mexico who died in Texas.

► Confirmed sickened worldwide, 1,315: 727 in Mexico; 339 in U.S.; 140 in Canada; 44 in Spain; 27 in Britain; eight in Germany; six in New Zealand; four in Israel, Italy and France; two in El Salvador; one each in Austria, Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea and Switzerland.

► Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about a third of confirmed U.S. cases are people who had been to Mexico and likely picked up the infection there.

► Hong Kong, where severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 299 in 2003, ordered weeklong quarantine of downtown hotel where a Mexican tourist was confirmed to have the illness, trapping 274 guests and employees inside.

► Mexico to allow most businesses to reopen Wednesday. Mexico City cafes, museums and libraries to reopen this week; schools to reopen after inspections are completed.

► Mexican government charters a plane to bring its citizens home from China after 70 Mexican nationals traveling in China were quarantined there. China sends its own plane to retrieve Chinese nationals stranded in Mexico. Mexico also criticizes Argentina, Peru and Cuba for banning flights.

► World Health Organization says slaughtering pigs unnecessary because virus is being spread through humans; says swine herd in Canada likely infected by farmworker who returned from Mexico.

► U.S. Meat Export Federation, which represents pork and beef interests abroad, estimates that U.S. pork exports have dropped about 10 percent since the swine flu scare started.

► Visitation at all California prisons is suspended after an ill inmate at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County is tested for swine flu.

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Biotechnology advances have allowed us to understand viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens better than ever before. We use genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, microarrays, PCR, and other genomic and proteomic tools to understand pathogens better.

We've also developed vaccines and potent antivirals and antibiotics that fight diseases. A proof of this is how much longer life expectancy is Today than it was before the 1940's when antibiotics were invented.

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