8/27/09
The start of school last week brought the swine flu scare back to two districts in the state.
The state Department of Health is investigating “clusters of influenza-like illnesses” at Los Alamos Middle School and the Kirtland Early Childhood Center, a kindergarten and pre-kindergarten center near Farmington, Department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer confirmed.
Last week, a school nurse at Kirkland reported 13 students had flu-like symptoms last week, and 20 students sought care at a Los Alamos health center, according to a Department press release.
A Los Alamos school nurse reported Tuesday that over 100 students stayed home sick, about 18 percent of the school’s total enrollment, the release states.
The Department suspects the cases are related to “the continued spread of H1N1 influenza” (the swine flu) but has not confirmed anything yet, Busemeyer said.
“All children at this point are in the priority group for getting the (swine flu) vaccine,” Busemeyer said.
That group includes everyone through age 24, according to Busemeyer.
Busemeyer said the state has only seen one death since the swine flu scare started last spring, and that death was attributed to existing medical conditions in the patient.
“All we can track is if the severity of the illness changes,” Busemeyer said. “So we are tracking hospital cases and deaths to determine how serious this is.”
The Española School District seems to safe so far.
“We haven’t seen a major outbreak of flu cases,” Superintendent Janette Archuleta said. “We receive timely communication from the state Department of Health, and that information is shared with District nursing staff and building principals. (And) we will continue to monitor (the situation).”
But Busemeyer said she would urge District parents, many of whom commute between Española and Los Alamos daily, to follow the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations for stopping the spread of the flu — information that is available on the Department’s web site, http://nmhealth.org/H1N1/index.shtml.