By the Bohol Chronicle
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) said it has contained the spread of the Influenza A(H1N1)
virus which downed more than 90 students in Lawis Elementary School in the
town of Inabanga since last week.
Health officials here have been monitoring the situation as this could be the second community-level outbreak in the country of the dreaded flu.
Classes in all levels at the said elementary school will remain suspended until Friday to make sure that students will not transmit the disease to others.
Dr. Reymoses Cabagnot bared over "Inyong Alagad" of Station dyRD that the outbreak started with one student who recently came from Negros. The said student, who is from neighboring barangay Santo Niño already exhibited flu-like symptoms.
Other students who came into contact with the first victim also got
sick with flu which immediately spread to other students.
Swab samples were immediately taken from 15 students which all turned out positive with Influenza A(H1N1).
According to Cabagnot, there were about 90 other students in the same school who exhibited flu-like symptoms which prompted health authorities to take precautionary measures as they can all be presumed positive of the virus based on the 100-percent result of swab tests taken from the 15 students.
One parent of the afflicted students, whose children are enrolled in Grade 3 and Grade 6, said her kids experienced high fever and coughing. They were given medicines by the local health unit and recovered after three days.
Due to very limited space at the Dagohoy Municipal Hospital in Poblacion Inabanga, most of the afflicted students were placed in self-quarantine at their homes and were given anti-flu medication and vitamins, Cabagnot said.
The school was closed since Wednesday last week and will remain so, until after the 10-day observation period of the students who were found positive of the virus. This is also to check if the patients still exhibit flu symptoms.
Most of the students however have fully recovered based on regular advisories from the Inabanga Municipal Health Office.
Bohol Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Elpidio Jala said Lawis Elementary School will re-open for classes on Monday, August 24.
Cabagnot likewise assured the public that there is no cause for the public to panic but stresses the importance of personal hygiene.
The fatality rate of A(H1N1) is less than 1 in every 1,000 who are afflicted with the disease.
There have been two previous cases of the flu here in the province, one involving a pregnant woman. Both patients have fully recovered.
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