Communicable Corner 12/21/11
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. The following cases of communicable illness were reported the week of December 19 – December 21: Strep – one case grade 6 and Influenza-Like-Illness (ILI) – two cases (one case grade 6 and one case grade 9). The average daily student absence this week, related to illness was 27 students/day. This represents a decrease of 2 students/day from last week. Trends in presenting symptoms include gastrointestinal pain, headache.
Pertussis seems to be making an appearance in the district population. I received reports of Pertussis being diagnosed this week, in siblings of two students at Valley View. Please be aware of early the warning signs of Pertussis over break, which often begins with symptoms similar to the early stages of the common cold - runny nose, watery eyes, possible low-grade fever, and a mild cough. After one to two weeks, a persistent cough develops. The cough occurs in bursts and may end with a high-pitched whooping sound and sometimes precipitate vomiting. Between bursts of coughing, the person appears well. Coughing attacks may continue for 4 to 6 weeks and are more common at night. Pertussis can lead to pneumonia, particularly in infants. Bloomington Public Health encourages parents to have your child evaluated by a health care provider if they present with symptoms consistent with Pertussis or develop a cough that persists beyond one week. If your child has any symptoms consistent with Pertussis s/he should be evaluated by a healthcare provider. More information on Pertussis, along with an audio of the characteristic cough may be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/ and http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/support/healthservices/pdfs/pertussis.pdf. Keep in mind that although your child may be vaccinated, it is not always 100% effective, and immunity decreases over time.