Swine Flu's Outbreak at Grenada

Grenada :

Grenada could be on a verge of  a major outbreak of swine flu. According to Health Minister, Ann Peters. A number of persons have tested positive for the influenza following tests carried out in the past view days at the CAREC laboratory in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ann Peters told a meeting of the Senate on Wednesday that although she could not give a specific figure, however some of those who tested positive could include students of secondary schools on the island, as well as health workers at St. George's General Hospital.

The alarm bell was sounded on Monday when the Ministry of Health was called in to investigate a possible outbreak of the influenza A (H1N1) at the Happy Hill Secondary School (HHSS) in St. George North-west. According to reports reaching this newspaper approximately 40 students at the school had to be send home early after they displayed flu like symptoms such as fever, headache and vomiting.

One student said that she arrived at the school on last Monday morning what she believed was the common cold but her condition soon deteriorated and was told to return home and to have her parents take her to a doctor. A team of senior health proffesionals was dispatched  to HHSS to conduct the necessary testing and investigations. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said that  the health profesionals evaluated 13 students and it was discovered that three of them had elevated temperatures.

One official of the school who wished to to remain unnamed said that a decision was taken to send the students home as the result of increase body temperature and that they are expected to remain home until they have seen a medical doctor and their symptoms are cleared. There are also unconfirmed reports that the students from Grenada Boys Secondary School (GBSS) and Anglican High School (AHS) were also sent home this week for displaying symptoms of Swine Flu. The Spokesman from the Ministry of Health said that the protocol which was establish earlier this year when the H1N1 virus first surfaced was immediately kick into action by health care workers.

The Ministry of Health has repeated calls for the population to continue exercising proper personal hygiene, including the washing of hands properly and frequently and to cover nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing. Swine flu is a respiratory disease thought to spread through coughing and sneezing. Symptoms mimic those of normal flu.

The H1N1 virus is said to be the same strain that cause seasonal flu outbreaks in humans but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu  which usually affect pigs and birds.

Image center : Grenada's Ministry of Health, Ann Peters (The Grenada Today/SPICE GRENADA.COM)