Community-Acquired H1N1 Flu Prompts Closure of Rockville High School

>This item is by our very good Rockville Central friend, Jennifer Deseo, who is editor of The Silver Spring Penguin:

County and state health officials urged calm and caution as they revealed details behind a suspected case of swine flu at Rockville High School.

The school was ordered closed Thursday evening after laboratory tests determined that a special-needs student at the school probably contracted H1N1 flu, Ulder Tillman, chief of Montgomery County’s public health services, explained during a press conference.

“Because this student can’t follow our messages of covering your mouth when you cough or washing your hands, we felt it was very important to take this action,” Tillman said.

The student, whose name, age and gender were not disclosed, appeared well on Monday but began to show flu-like symptoms on Tuesday, Tillman described. The child received immediate medical attention, and by Thursday evening, a state health department lab in Baltimore had determined that samples collected from the student probably contained the H1N1 virus.

That’s when state and county health officials decided to close the school at least through Monday, Tillman announced. “We want to be proactive and precautionary,” she said.

What makes this case peculiar is that the student did not travel to Mexico or any other affected areas, nor did anyone in the student’s immediate family, Tillman said. Instead, the student may have contracted the illness from someone else in the community.

If the child’s illness was community-acquired, it would be the first such case in the state of Maryland, Tillman said. Nine other probable cases of H1N1 flu have been reported in the state, Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary for public health, said. None of them have required hospitalization, and there have been no related deaths.

The current health condition of the Rockville High student was not disclosed. Samples from the student have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for further study.

In the meantime, Tillman encouraged students to remain at home, and to avoid extracurricular activities or gathering at malls. It’s unclear how school officials intend to handle Saturday’s scheduled college-entrance exams or next week’s advanced-placement tests.

“We’ll be sorting this out,” Montgomery County schools superintendent Jerry Weast said. “Not sorting it out could cost us the life of a child.”

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