By OWEN BOSS
and REBECCA EVERETT
Gazette Writers
Ever since a preschool student at the Learning Loft day care in Goshen was diagnosed with H1N1 on Friday, owner Cathy Karowski has been working hard to make sure it remains an isolated case.
The student, a 4-year-old girl from Goshen, was unofficially diagnosed at Northampton Pediatrics after attending the day care for almost a week with flu-like symptoms.
Karowski said the girl showed symptoms such as a fever, upset stomach and “terrible headaches” before she was diagnosed. Not surprisingly, Karowski said she has upped the day care’s already meticulous cleaning regimen.
She is also entreating the parents of her 20 day care children to keep their kids home if they show any symptoms, to limit the spread of the virus. Dr. Jonathan Schwab, a pediatrician at Northampton Area Pediatrics, agreed that potentially affected children should stay home.
“If your child is sick, don’t send them to school,” Schwab said. “When a 4-year-old goes to day care with H1N1 symptoms, there’s a decent chance the other kids there will come down with it, too.”
Schwab said that though he could not speak specifically about the 4-year-old, it is very likely it is an H1N1 case. “I’m sure it is (H1N1),” Schwab said. “We’ve seen a lot of cases this week and the week before. It’s all around Hampshire County.”
Schwab said that the cases he has seen do not seem severe. “The H1N1 virus is very prevalent here, but the good news is that it most of the cases we’re seeing are mild or medium,” Schwab said.
Schwab said that he, like most doctors, is not doing the rapid nasal swab test to determine if a patient has the flu, because the test is only about 50 percent accurate and does not differentiate between H1N1 and seasonal flu.
“We examine someone with flu symptoms, and if there is no sign of bacterial infection it’s pretty safe bet it’s the flu,” Schwab said. “Regular seasonal flu isn’t usually seen this early in the year, so you can be pretty sure it’s H1N1.”
Schwab said that he is confident that the more than 50 students at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton have H1N1, because it is too early for the seasonal flu.
“I’ve seen 10 cases this morning that I’m sure are H1N1,” Schwab said at noon on Wednesday. He said he is not testing for H1N1 because it would not change whether he treated them. For most patients, no treatment is given, unless the patient is at high risk such as someone with asthma, immune deficiency or metabolic disorders, children under 2 and pregnant women.
The Goshen girl, now virus-free, returned to the day care on Tuesday.
The rush for vaccines
The short supply of the vaccines, for both the seasonal virus and the more dangerous H1N1 variety, has some residents worried doses won’t be available when they need them.
But local doctors are reassuring them that vaccines for both viruses, which are spread through coughing, sneezing or by touching an object with the flu virus on it and then touching one’s mouth, nose or eyes, will be more readily available later on this fall.
Sarah Haessler, an infectious disease specialist at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, said like every other state hospital, they have received a limited amount of H1N1 vaccine to be administered to those most at risk, including children, pregnant women, people between the ages of 24 and 64 with chronic underlying conditions and adults who care for children who are less than six months old.
“We cannot vaccinate children under 6 months old, so what we try to do is put them in a cocoon surrounded by people who have already been vaccinated,” Haessler said.
The increased demand for H1N1 vaccinations nationwide, Haessler said, has greatly affected the availability of seasonal flu shots. The federal government’s call for 200 million H1N1 vaccinations meant the companies who normally produce seasonal shots weren’t doing so.
“Only four companies make flu vaccines, and it is a very labor-intensive process,” Haessler said. “When the federal government called for more swine flu vaccinations, some of the companies switched over their production from seasonal shots to those for the H1N1 virus, and therefore there is a shortage of both.” While the current shortage has some patients worried, Haessler said plenty more of both vaccines will become available as the government begins a more widespread distribution process later this fall.
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