22 September 2009
HEALTH authorities in Luanshya have with immediate effect closed Luanshya Trust School after the institution recorded a drastic increase in the number of children suffering from suspected swine flu.
And 55 pupils from various secondary and high schools in Luanshya were yesterday admitted to Luanshya Hospital after being attacked by what hospital authorities termed as flu-like disease.
This brings the number of patients who were treated at the institution since Friday to 230. Health authorities and officials from Luanshya Copper Mines, the proprietors of the school, confirmed the development in separate interviews in Luanshya yesterday.
Luanshya Hospital chief medical officer Boniface Zulu said his hospital was overwhelmed by the drastic increase in the number of patients who were of school going age seeking medical attention after suffering from an illness which presents flu symptoms.
Dr Zulu confirmed that health authorities recommended that Luanshya Trust School be closed.
"The closure is subject to review depending on the findings of the medical tests of the flu-like disease which is causing a lot of pupils to absent themselves from lessons and seeking medical attention," Dr Zulu said.
He said all the patients being admitted to the hospital were not being given swine flu medication because the tests of the specimen from patients suffering from the disease were still being subjected to tests at the Ministry of Health in Lusaka.
"All the patients are currently being subjected to supportive treatment. Until the results of the tests are out, we are not sure of the type of virus we are dealing with which is infecting people who are predominantly of school going age.
We have access to the tami flu tablets meant for treating HINI but we cannot use them until we know what our patients are suffering from," he said
He said the hospital authorities were admitting patients with high temperature above 38 degrees.
Some of the pupils admitted to Luanshya Hospital include those from Roan Antelope Secondary School, Suzika Private School, Luanshya Boys and Girls school and Luanshya Trust.
And authorities at the National Girls Technical High School, where 107 pupils had been quarantined have said the pupils were responding well to treatment.
School head-teacher Theresa Mukuka said some pupils had been discharged after receiving treatment but could not go into details and referred all queries to the district education board secretary, who could not be reached by Press time.
Copperbelt Province Director of Health, Chandwe Ng'ambi said all the districts in the province had been placed on flu alert and a surveillance system had been put in place.
Dr N'gambi also disclosed that 14 out of the 107 pupils at Ndola National Technical High School, who had been quarantined after being diagnosed with unknown flu-like disease had dbeen ischarged while six new cases were recorded yesterday.
Meanwhile, Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) has called for close monitoring of boarding schools to curb swine flu outbreaks.
CBE executive director Peter Sinkamba said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that reports of pupils from various schools being quarantined for suspected H1N1 virus, were worrying and that authorities should put in place measures to monitor the institutions, especially Government schools.
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