Communicable Corner 05/21/10
By: Colleen Ziebol, Licensed School Nurse
Welcome to the Valley View Communicable Corner; a weekly column to share the latest trends in communicable illness. The intent of this column is to keep parents informed and to minimize the spread of infectious illness at school. There were no cases of communicable infection reported this week. The daily average absence, related to illness was 13 students/day. This represents a decrease of 22 students/day from last week. Health office visits related to illness were minimal this week, while students seen for injuries sustained during athletic participation have increased.
Spring allergies continue to impact some of the student population. Students with spring allergies should follow the treatment plan recommended by their health care provider. Students with asthma triggered by pollen and exercise should use their inhalers, as ordered before physical education.
Remember, good hand washing and hygiene practices, such as covering your cough, can stop the spread of communicable illness including influenza. Information on influenza can be found at State Department of Health’s website:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/flu/index.html.
The most current information about the spread of the flu in the US can be found at:
Flu.gov.
Please keep your child home if they are running a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, have vomited or had diarrhea in the past 24 hours. Students should remain home for at least 24 hours after their fever has subsided without the use of fever reducing medicine and has not had any episodes of diarrhea or vomiting for 24 hours. Rashes may be disease related. Any student with a suspicious, unidentified rash must be seen by a health care provider. The rash must be identified and determined not to be contagious before returning the school. The student must provide written documentation from the health care provider indicating the diagnosis and information regarding the need for exclusion due to communicability. Report all absences to the attendance line at 952-848-3502. Remember to give specific details as to the reason for your child’s absence and presenting symptoms, if ill. If your child has a temperature of over 100 degrees, please indicate if your child has a cough or a sore throat. For purposes of influenza monitoring, please call in, each day your child is absent and report specific symptoms. My monitoring is dependent on your daily reporting of influenza like symptoms. Attendance personnel will forward calls involving communicable illness to the health office. Please contact the school nurse if your child has been injured, ill, or had surgery and requires special accommodations in their school day at 952-848-3333.