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Flu bug making rounds at area schools
By Paul Swiech
pswiech@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- Cold and flu season is taking its toll on school attendance. Several school nurses said Monday that absenteeism has increased in the past week as Central Illinois children battle a variety of maladies.

Among the sicknesses reported were upper respiratory infections, pink eye, strep and even some diagnosed cases of influenza.

“It’s up a lot,” school nurse Susy Marcum said of the number of kids out with illness. As for the kinds of sicknesses, “there’s quite a variety,” said Marcum, nurse at Unit 5’s Grove and Prairieland elementary schools in Normal.

Whether the numbers are typical for February or are slightly higher vary with each school, school nurses said.

Marcum said children are out with upper respiratory infections, including colds; pink eye, an infection in the eye; stomach flu, including vomiting and diarrhea; strep throat, a bacterial infection that results in a sore throat and fever without a cough or runny nose; and influenza, which causes high fever, body aches, chills and fatigue.

At Prairieland, about 70 of 575 students were absent on Thursday and Friday and more than 50 were sick on Monday. Typically, during cold and flu season, 30 to 40 students would be absent, she said.

At Grove, 40 to 50 of 650 students have been absent for each of the past several school days, which is typical for this time of year, Marcum said.

At District 87’s Irving and Sheridan schools in Bloomington, most of the sick students have post-nasal drip with congestion, a low-grade fever and a mucus-caused cough, school nurse Holly Beoletto said.

Some of the coughing is frequent and harsh, to the point that some children throw up, she said.

Sheridan, with 400 students, has been averaging 40 students absent, Beoletto said. Irving, with 360 students, has averaged 25 to 30 kids absent.

“These are normally healthy kids that I do not normally see,” Beoletto said.

Bonnie Mitchell, school nurse for Tri-Valley High School, Middle School and Elementary School in Downs, is seeing students with respiratory illnesses (colds, runny nose and cough) and influenza. Of 1,100 students, about 30 to 40 have been absent for the past week, compared with 15 to 20 on a typical winter day.

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Reader comments on this story - 14 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

teach your children wrote on Feb 18, 2008 5:29 PM:

" no matter if in charge of them at school or they are your own. Teach them to keep their hands away from their faces, and to WASH (soap is required), not just rinse hands at necessary times, to sneeze into a tissue or paper towel (or at least not in the direction of others), to cough into or toward their shoulders (no hand washing necessary) and they will not only have respect for others (good manners are a plus) but spread less germs. "

tired parent wrote on Feb 12, 2008 5:23 PM:

" So if a home school kid gets the flu, then does mom have to get out of bed before 10 am? "

to NURSE wrote on Feb 12, 2008 12:06 PM:

" You forgot that they should all demand antibiotics for their virus-caused cold! "

T wrote on Feb 12, 2008 10:52 AM:

" Ill take what Hillary offers vs what the Republicans are offering any day "

flu shot wrote on Feb 12, 2008 10:24 AM:

" guess what? I give my children a flueshot and they are out half the winter with various illnesses.. last year I rejected the flu shot and WHAT? They caught one common cold each the entire winter. What's up with that? I passed this year as well.. so we'll see how sick they get. So far.. nada. "

Hand Washing... wrote on Feb 12, 2008 10:16 AM:

" ...would go a long way to minimizing these outbreaks. At Northpoint school, they parade the kids right past the bathroom and into the lunch room without stopping to wash hands. Then they make the kids use wet wipes before returning to their classroom. If they worried about the kids health as much as keeping the sticky off the school supplies, this might not get as bad as it does. This also makes it hard to enforce good hand washing practices at home. "

careful care wrote on Feb 12, 2008 6:52 AM:

" My family has not had the flu in two years. Thanks to an air purifier that helps Reduces Exposure to Infectious Germs. Want more iformation www.activepure.com/richardrose. "

Hillary REALLY says wrote on Feb 12, 2008 5:54 AM:

" I can't wait to get in office and get back to the basics of government, get us out of this stupid war based on lies, bring down the deficit, abolish the abomination that is the office of faith based initiatives, appoint REAL supreme court judges that protect the minority from the TYRANNY of the majority, and put the nightmare of shrubbie the bush behind us. Any other questions?? or, do you just want to make up more lies about me? Unlike your cherished current leader, I won't toss you in SHAMEFUL guantanamo bay for dissent. Oh yeah, I also won't torture. "

Waffle of Justice wrote on Feb 11, 2008 11:36 PM:

" Good thing everybody bought into their flu shots. "

Gets Me wrote on Feb 11, 2008 9:59 PM:

" What gets me is the fact that this one parent I know sends her kids to school when they're sick. This is because she wants them to get PERFECT ATTENDANCE. These kids then pass what ever they have on to the other kids and teachers. Also, she gets mad if her kids catch something from another kid. Don't get it and it gets me. "

Hillary Says wrote on Feb 11, 2008 9:07 PM:

" Don't worry, I will take care of all the sick children when I am President. Those rich people make too much money anyhow, so I'll be sure to take as much as I can to create loooooooooooong lines for doctors and not enough quality medical attention to service everyone who thinks they need it ... just like Canada. Wow this is just such a terrible country under a Republican regime. I can't wait to get in to power and implement Socialism. "

TWOFOLD wrote on Feb 11, 2008 8:13 PM:

" "Some of the coughing is frequent and harsh, to the point that some children throw up, she said."

give these kids to the jr high girls that want so badly to be mommies... problem solved. "

NURSE wrote on Feb 11, 2008 8:05 PM:

" I guess it's time for everyone with any sign of a cold or flu to head to the Drs. office or your local ER. Then you can all crowd the waiting rooms and cough all over each other,then you can be sure to catch something. "

Dr. Galen 'Doc' Adams wrote on Feb 11, 2008 7:46 PM:

" I recommend home schooling. What do think Miss Kitty ? Well Doc I recommend a shot of whiskey and a fine Cuban Cigar "
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