RSS Feed
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Flu bug takes big bites out of county The flu season is taking its toll currently in Clarke County. It may not be a full-blown epidemic, but the influenza is causing discomfort for children and adults alike. Dr. Garrett Miller's office had to stop taking patients at 10 a.m. one day last week because both nurses were at home sick with the flu and Monday patients couldn't be seen because Dr. Miller himself had caught the bug. They were seeing about four to five patients who had the flu every day. Between the flu and a stomach virus, that is also being spread, several patients have been hospitalized. Area schools offer varying reports on the bug. Jackson Academy closed last Thursday due to a high number of absences attributed to the flu there. Sixty-nine students were out sick as of last Thursday afternoon. The school reopened Wednesday. On the other hand, "we have not had enough cases that anyone has called up here (to Central Office)," said Julia Ann Deas of the Clarke County public school system. "We have not had any reports that the flu is rampant in our schools." Letters are being sent home to parents and posted on school websites advising them of protective measures to take, symptoms of the flu and requests for parents to keep their sick children out of school until their symptoms have stopped. Grove Hill schools say that a small percentage of the students and very few teachers have missed school because of the flu. About five or six students have been sent home a day from Clarke Preparatory School and some teachers have been sick also. Clarke County High School has sent very few students home because of the flu. "For a couple of weeks we had about 40 children out with the flu and stomach virus and some teachers too," said Nancy Richburg, RN, the nurse at Grove Hill Elementary School said. "It's not been as bad here as in some other schools. We're still seeing a few cases of it." Larry Bagley, principal at Wilson Hall Middle School said they had not had more than the usual amount of absences, "Maybe 20 a day have been out over the past week," he said, "and we've had very few teachers out with it." There have not been a lot of cases of the flu at Coffeeville High School according to Iris Anderson, RN, school nurse. "I've talked with the doctor's office and they told me to watch for headaches and fever. If the temperature reaches a certain point then I send them home." Candy Thompson, RN, serves as the school nurse at Thomasville Elementary School and Thomasville High School. She said about 10 percent of the student population had been sick with the flu. According to Stacey Gilchrist, RN, school nurse for Thomasville Middle School, the most absences they had had in one day was 40, but not all of those were due to the flu. Admissions to the Grove Hill Memorial Hospital related to the flu began to increase in the past two weeks, said Doug Sewell, hospital administrator. The majority of cases were brought to the Emergency Room. The facility has also had doctors, nurses and other staff absent because of the flu. Sewell has seen cases of patients who had already received flu shots. "Apparently the flu shot this year isn't covering all the strains. The virus mutated….We've probably seen 50 percent more flu cases than we have in the past years." Influenza can occur any time between November and March, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. The strains of influenza confirmed this season were primarily type A/H3 and type A/H1. The ADPH reported Feb. 6 that influenza activity has been confirmed in several Alabama counties including Coffee, DeKalb, Elmore, Greene, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Tuscaloosa. "If it's in Monroe, within a week it will be here," Sewell said. "It came across the river." Sewell believes medical professionals are currently seeing the peak of the flu season. Flyers could be seen throughout the hospital Tuesday asking visitors to curtail visits to patients to reduce the spread of the flu. The staff is discouraging people from bringing children to the hospital for a visit. "They will either be exposed to the flu or have been exposed in schools," he said. Some hospital staff members were absent on Tuesday because their children were off from Jackson Academy, which was temporarily closed due to flu conditions. Sewell's advice to people trying to avoid the flu: "stay out of crowds. Try to stay home as much as possible. Folks get angry because I've said before - this time of year it's even bad to go to church. I know they are going to go to church, but try to limit as much contact with other people as you can."
Washing your hands is very important. There are hand sanitizers in the halls at the hospital. "I've seen a huge increase in that use, not only by employees, but the public, in the last three weeks," Sewell said.
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
