Dear BVSD parents/guardians:

Following our weekly conference call with Boulder County Public Health and Broomfield County Health and Human Services, we would like to give you the latest advice:

Important Information for High Risk Populations

• The current flu can be a very serious disease because of the complications it can lead to in high risk populations. This includes the very young (infants less than six months); pregnant persons; diabetic persons; those with serious heart disease, asthma, or kidney disease; and special needs students, especially those with neurologic, respiratory or mobility compromise and those who are immuno-compromised.  If you or your student are high risk, please be proactive and talk with your health care provider now before you or your family is exposed or ill.  There may be steps you need to take quickly to prevent further complications from the flu and it is in your best interest to have the plan in place.

Other Updates from Public Health Officials

• Flu is currently prevalent in our communities in many age populations, but particularly the young children through young adults. Given the fact that it is too early for the seasonal (regular) flu, public health officials including the CDC now agree that this flu is assumed to be the new H1N1 variety of Influenza A.
• The current flu circulating remains a mild illness for those who are generally young and healthy otherwise.
• Routine testing is not recommended by the local, state, nor national health authorities currently, as the treatment for otherwise healthy individuals is the same regardless of what type of flu they have contracted. Those at high risk and/or hospitalized may be tested if place of care (home or hospital) or the treatment would be different (for example: a bacterial infection or pneumonia from strep is treated differently from a severe infection or pneumonia from one of the flu strains that are viruses).  Urgicenters and clinics are sometimes testing for Influenza A, but rarely for the Influenza A/H1N1 strain unless hospitalized or under special circumstances.
• Please DO NOT send an ill student to school, especially with a fever greater than 100. BVSD will work with you and your student on school work. Please report the student is home with “flu” like symptoms if they have the fever PLUS other symptoms such as cough, runny nose, sore throat, body/muscle aches, vomiting or diarrhea. We will continue to send students home who present during the day with these symptoms, so if called please pick them up as soon as possible.
• CDC recommends that you keep your ill student home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone (Fever must be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine or you will be called to pick up student.)
• Remember to check all the prevention and treatment steps in our prior communications and practice them. Consider getting the seasonal flu vaccine now for yourself and your family. Discuss with your health provider whether or not you and your student should get the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available. 
• Check our bvsd.org website and the “flu” link in the center of the page regularly for updates

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include: (according to the Centers for Disease Control)

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
(according to the Centers for Disease Control)

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough that places them at high risk for serious flu-related complications.

Susan Rowley RN, MS, CPNP
Health Services and Medicaid Coordinator
Boulder Valley School District