<p>I would love to know what happened during the Spanish Flu (early 20th Century) in New England Prep Schools. I can't find any books or articles on it. Any help?</p>
<p>[Interactive</a> - the influenza pandemic of 1918 | UK news | guardian.co.uk](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2008/jan/03/flu]Interactive”>Interactive - the influenza pandemic of 1918 | UK news | theguardian.com)</p>
<p>Before we start a panic…</p>
<p>Prep schools with large international populations have always had multi-tiered contingency plans for dealing with flue outbreaks-which happen all the time </p>
<p>In the western Massachusetts schools, these plans were most recently activated for the Bird Flu outbreak in Asian a couple of years ago. They know what they are doing, and will contain any health risk.</p>
<p>For this flu it seems the only possible pre empt would be a stash of preventative anti virals ie:Tamiflu & Relenza. Then screen the kids with an ear thermometer as they go into breakfast and dinner.</p>
<p>I had family in NE BS in the early 20th Century, and I never heard from them while they lived any stories of mass deaths at their schools due to the Spanish Flu.</p>
<p>The news reports claim that the swine flu in Mexico causes deaths for “young adults,” defined as 24 to 45 years of age. The reports I’ve read state that this is a feature of pandemic flu. The teachers may be in danger, but pandemic flu may not be as dangerous for children.</p>
<p>That is good to hear toadstool. What is making me a little nervous is how the 1918 flu started out mild in the Spring, but turned deadly by the Fall. I suppose if that turns out to be the case with this one that we may well know it before we send our kids off to school in the fall. Let’s hope. I do believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that the school in NY with the 8 infected kids was a boarding school. The students had gone to Mexico on Spring Break. </p>
<p>My husband just recently started working for the CDC Foundation. ‘Helping the CDC to Do More Faster’ is their tagline. Anyway, He’s involved in the emergency response system for pandemics. The Foundation serves a support function, getting the CDC folks what they need quickly. He’s one of a handful that can man the Foundation’s desk in the Emergency Response Center that was set up this morning. I guess his hours are going to be longer this week! (Just got off the phone with him…things at work are ‘bat poop crazy’ today. Actually, what he said got censored. And I’ve never heard him use that phrase before.:))</p>
<p>I do hope that the boarding schools will be proactive and let parents know what their contingency plans are should this situation get worse. That will alleviate some anxiety, I think. </p>
<p>For up to date info: [CDC</a> Swine Flu | What’s New](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm]CDC”>http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm)</p>
<p>My son was at NMH during the Bird Flu outbreak and it was sad because the parents of some the Asian students were not able to attend graduation per NMH policy regarding the outbreak.</p>
<p>The word is this Mexican Flu will dwindle as the weather get better, then come back hard this winter as an evolved super flu. Luckily, right now Tamiflu and Relenza seem to work on it. Hopefully Obama’s admin will step up pressure on the Pharmys to produce vast quantities of vaccine. Now, Pharmys won’t do this unless they are guaranteed a profit, so it will be interesting to see how much money Obama can give them to get the vaccine going like…yesterday. I’m not sure, but this is a great opportunity for us all to see how his insurance for all program is going to work. ie: everyone should have access to Tamilflu and Relenza AND a pre-emptive Flu Vaccine for cheap cheap cheap!!!Not just the rich folks!
Not to ramble but…the 3rd world countries will be hardest hit as usual.</p>
<p>The only way to stop panic is through education!</p>
<p>St. Francis Prep is not a boarding school, but some of the students did go to Mexico for Spring Break.</p>
<p>I wonder why the press is still calling it Swine flu? It should be Mexican Flu or North American Flu.
""World animal health body says swine flu wrong name
Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:47pm BST</p>
<p>PARIS, April 27 (Reuters) - The flu virus spreading around the world should not be called “swine flu” as it also contains avian and human components and no pig was found ill with the disease so far, the World Animal Health body said on Monday.</p>
<p>A more logical name for it would be “North-American influenza”, a name based on its geographic origin just like the Spanish influenza, another human flu pandemic with animal origin that killed more than 50 million people in 1918-1919.</p>
<p>“The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement. “”</p>
<p>I found this link on another board that I frequent. 'Thought some of you might be interested.</p>
<p>[Why</a> Princeton was spared](<a href=“http://www.paw.princeton.edu/issues/2008/12/17/pages/6129/]Why”>http://www.paw.princeton.edu/issues/2008/12/17/pages/6129/)</p>
<p>Interesting!</p>
<p>it will come back big in fall and winter. good because it gives time to get vaccine made. has been in mexico for at least several months. enough stockpiles of tamiflu and relenza in u.s. to send some to mexico. very late in season to have an outbreak. right now u.s has only two labs available to work on this and one is in canada but can get lots up immediately. because the young adults are suspectible it will have high rates of mortality and illness in the general population, my dad says.</p>
<p>i’m worried because i fly between the u.k. and the u.s. often. my dad says i shouldn’t worry because we will take all precautions. haven’t been to mexico lately though.</p>
<p>sarum-that 1918 flu outbreak story has worried me and i’m losing sleep over this:(</p>
<p>why would bs be more risk than your local school? seems to me it may actually be safer.
wouldn’t the bs population come in contact with less people than students at a day school?</p>
<p>I suppose it could go both ways, depending on the school’s response vs parent/local school’s response. BS has lots of kids together…potential for quick easy spread of the virus. They’d have to be very proactive to minimize any spread of cases that showed up on campus. However, by the same token, a BS potentially could closely monitor health status of students, restrict movement and could limit contact with outside world. That is the sequestration idea mentioned in the piece about Princeton.</p>
<p>A cautious and aware parent of a local high school student could also sequester their child. Also, once a child is sick, I assume most parents would prefer to be the care giver to ensure that their child get the treatment they need, serving as personal advocate if necessary. I would think this to be especially true if we were in the midst of a national emergency where resources were being stretched by the scope of the emergency. If we head into a full blown pandemic, I’m not sure that BS parents would be able to do that for their children as easily as other parents could.</p>
<p>As of last night there were about 50 mild cases in the US - the US cases are not nearly as severe as those in Mexico. Flu waves used to knock over 30% of school students in the 60’s and 70’s. That’s why spring break was instituted - it is the week when statistically schools were most likely to be clocked by flu. Rather then have to close schools due to flue, they institutionalized a week-long vacation to break the contagion cycle. In the big picture, caution and care is needed; panic is not. Chill!</p>
<p>The kids who spent spring break in Mexico or in contact with others with this flu have been back for several weeks now. If they were going to get it they would have it by now. Therefore boarding schools are at the moment perfect little island of health. </p>
<p>Boarding Schools are hyper vigilant about the passing of contagion - in part because you would not believe what a spike in student illness will do to the plumbing! Sequestering, washing down desk tops between classes, ejecting sick kids from classes, having hand sanitizer everywhere were just some of the precautions in place for bird flu. Can others add to the list? </p>
<p>What did your boarding school do in response to past flu blitzes? During SARRS, at one pre-prep Asian internationals were ‘invited’ to not return to school for the first few weeks, and the informally quarantined for a short while before being allowed to re-enter the school population. This year, as that North America is the source and at the end of term, you may see internationals stuck at school, because their home countries may be reluctant to admit them. </p>
<p>Stress hampers the immune system. The kids are heading to finals, AP, SAT etc: A high stress time. Let us not unduly add to their stress by focusing on worst case scenarios and spreading doom and gloom. They need to eat well, sleep a lot, follow heightened sanitation. What they don’t need is panic.</p>
<p>Does anyone have the dates and severity of the three waves of Spanish Flu during 1918? I believe the first came in the spring, then Sept.- Oct?
What we need is heightened awareness, not panic.</p>
<p><a href=“H1N1 Swine Flu - Google My Maps”>H1N1 Swine Flu - Google My Maps;
<p>Watch what they are doing, not what they say.</p>
<p>Andover’s Associate Head of School and Medical Director sent an email to parents today indicating that they were monitoring the situation. It also stated that they have a Pandemic Planning Committee that’s been in place for several years. It did not, however, state what steps they would take if a true pandemic became apparent. Mostly it provided links to CDC and other relevant sites tracking the outbreak and stated basic health and hygiene steps for individuals to take in any flu situation. It was clearly intended to assure parents that the school was being proactive. Updates, if necessary, will be provided via the Parent Portal.</p>