By Ashley H.
Ms. Trainer is Middletown High School’s student nurse. I met with her to discuss the topic that is on everyone’s minds these days; the swine flu or H1N1. I wanted to find out if MHS was prepared for an outbreak of the flu and what we can do to keep ourselves safe and healthy.
“It’s a different strand of the flu that we haven’t seen before,” says Ms. Trainer as I interviewed her in her office. “Epedisologists track the strands of flue to see what different things happen when someone has the flu in order to make vaccines.” Ms. Trainer goes on to say that so far Middletown High School has been very lucky in its encounters with H1N1. We have only had two reported cases of students who had the flu and those students have received medical attention and made a full recovery.
“The flu is something that students could be concerned with as it can also be a symptom of pnonemoia” says Nurse Trainer. She has plenty of advice for students who think they might be coming down with any type of sickness, from H1N1 to a cold. “If you have a fever or a cough, it would be a better choice to stay home from school and take care of yourself,” she says. Nurse Trainer also advices students to wash their hands frequently and should avoid touching their face with their hands if they are dirty.
Many are interested in how the swine flu began. H1N1 originated as a virus only pigs could get. That virus mutated and spread to those pigs’ owners… and that virus kept spreading, eventually becoming the flu that has worried so many people. The symptoms of the swine flu include a high fever, coughing, or a really painful headache. You just feel horrible. These symptoms usually last from three to ten days but you may feel fatigue for a couple of week or months after you recover from H1N1.
Although it’s smart to get a vaccine, they do not work in every case. “You can still get any (type of) flu, even with a vaccine,” says Ms. Trainer. “Seasonal flu season hasn’t even started yet.”
