Flu symptoms

The following letter was recently sent to parents by d'Overbroeck's College Principal Sami Cohen, and is republished below.

Dear Parents

Students developing flu’ symptoms

We have recently reviewed our policy and practice in instances where a student develops flu’-like symptoms, and am writing to give you a summary of these.

At this time of the year, it is common for us all to be prone to the usual ragbag of colds, coughs and flu’s. Swine flu’ complicates the situation this year, especially since, as government guidance currently stands, doctors are unable to distinguish reliably between swine flu and ‘ordinary’ seasonal flu’. This is true even when a GP physically examines a patient; it is obviously even more so when the diagnosis is made over the telephone, which it commonly is at the moment. Where a patient is believed to be presenting with flu’-like symptoms, GPs are instructed to prescribe Tamiflu as a safety precaution.

It follows from all this that we can expect to see some increase in the incidence of illness in the coming weeks, and that it is going to be impossible to tell with any degree of certainty who has swine flu’ and who has ordinary seasonal flu’ or, in some cases, even just a heavy cold. Tamiflu is increasingly going to be prescribed as a precautionary measure, so this won’t in itself
be a conclusive differentiator.

In the last couple of days, a number of our students have developed flu’-like symptoms. A few have been prescribed Tamiflu. At the time of writing, these have all been relatively mild cases, and all the indications are that the students concerned will make a full recovery within a few days.

Our current policy in such instances is as follows:

Boarders who develop flu-like symptoms are being asked to stay as much as possible in their rooms where they will be looked after. They are being asked to have as little contact as possible with other students until they are well enough to return to lessons.

In the case of day students, we would ask parents to do the following (based on current government guidance):

• If your son or daughter develops flu-like symptoms, please keep them at home.
• Do not take them to the doctor’s surgery. Instead you should telephone the National Pandemic Flu helpline on 0800 1 513 100.
• You could, alternatively, ring your GP’s surgery for advice – but GP surgeries are expressly asking that patients with flu’-like symptoms should not physically go to the surgery.
• Obviously, please also telephone or email us to keep us informed.

The signs are that, from a health perspective, this could be a bit of a tricky winter for all of us. Our aim here is to maintain ‘business as usual’ as far as possible while ensuring that we are as well prepared as we can be for a possible increase in the number of people suffering from the dreaded ‘flu’-like symptoms’.

For further information, please see the latest advice from the Health Protection Agency.

Please don’t hesitate to telephone us if you would like to discuss any of this further.

With best regards

Sami Cohen
Principal