Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School officials are taking precautionary measures after one of its students preliminarily tested positive for swine flu.

B-E Principal Randy Maxwell said the student is actually the second to have been diagnosed with H1N1 flu (swine flu) following preliminary tests conducted by a physician.

“We are disinfecting everything we can, and we’ve sent a letter home with every child in school to inform them (parents) of the situation. Here at school when you don’t know exactly who the child may have come in contact with, everybody’s concerned about it,” Maxwell said.

“I’ve called my own doctor and told him I had some direct contact, and they prescribed some kind of Tamiflu to ward it off,” he added. “We’ve had a number of people do that, but our school nurse is very much on top of the situation. We’re doing all we have been advised to. It’s a serious concern. We’ve got a couple of cases. How many more are we going to get?”

Tamiflu is one of several types of antiviral drugs that can be taken to protect against the swine flu.

“We’re not overly alarmed. We’re certainly concerned and ... going to monitor the situation extremely closely and take whatever necessary steps we need to,” Bamberg School District One Superintendent Phyllis Schwarting said, noting that the first student was actually preliminarily diagnosed with swine flu during the summer and came back to school this year perfectly fine.

“I think that the kids recognize the fact that they’re going to have to take some extra precautions like hand washing, some things they should be doing already. Hopefully, that will just make us all a little more careful,” Schwarting said.

She said the second student, who had already experienced respiratory problems, began manifesting other symptoms on Tuesday, just a day after students returned to school.

“Upon being taken to his family physician, it was confirmed that swine flu was the most likely suspect. I’m comfortable that the symptoms were caught early. The child was removed from the school setting. I don’t know if the student even had any symptoms on Monday. But as soon as he recognized them, he was taken to the nurse and taken home by his parents. All the proper precautions were followed,” Schwarting said.

Maxwell said the student’s test results from the physician’s office have since been sent to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, where laboratory tests will be conducted to officially confirm – or not – the presence of swine flu. He said the school is currently awaiting the results, adding that the school nurse has been in contact with Drew Gerald, epidemiologist at the Orangeburg Health Department.

“As soon as he knows, he’ll contact the school nurse. ... We haven’t gotten a definitive answer back yet, but the doctor’s offices thought it was swine flu,” Maxwell said.

DHEC spokesman Jim Beasley said, “The only way to confirm novel H1N1 influenza is through a laboratory test. Physicians can only go so far and have to rely upon the laboratory to perform the gold standard testing. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they (the students) turned up with H1N1. We know it’s in South Carolina as it was first identified back in April. Therefore, we continue to stress the importance of such things as covering your mouth properly; frequent hand washing; staying away from someone who appears to be sick; staying at home if you’re sick and living a healthy lifestyle to include eating properly, exercising and getting rest.”

Schwarting said the district has plans to offer the swine flu vaccine to all students and staff once it becomes available.

“It probably won’t be available until October. At that time, we will ask our school nurses to help administer it. DHEC will provide some assistance,” she said. “Their staff has been cut by more than half, but there may be a plan to find, perhaps, some retired nurses or people that would be happy to step up to the plate and get things done.”

Schwarting said she talked with local physicians who told her a person must come into fairly close contact with an infected individual in order to contract swine flu.

“There is a drug called Tamiflu. If you are living in the home or in close proximity to a student (with swine flu), you might want to take it. But this isn’t the type of flu where there’s going to be an outbreak now and another later,” she said. “We’re having clusters of this flu throughout the year.”

Added DHEC’s Beasley, “Our laboratory continues to confirm additional cases every week. This virus is behaving unlike most influenza viruses in the fact that it continues to spread during the summer time.”

“Typically, a flu virus dies when it gets hot and sunny, and that’s why we don’t have a lot of cases of flu during the summer. With novel H1N1, we’re seeing cases through the summer which is highly unusual,” he said. “So, that’s why we’re continue to press those stay-healthy steps. And we strongly recommend that when the vaccine is available for both seasonal and H1N1, that people will contact their health care provider to see if the shot is right for them.”

S.C. DHEC reports that Orangeburg County has had seven reported swine flu cases confirmed through laboratory tests since May 16. There were no new cases confirmed the week of Aug. 1-7.

Five cases of swine flu have been reported in Bamberg County since May 16, with no new cases reported the week of Aug. 1-7. Calhoun County has had no reported cases of swine flu.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534.

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