News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A nasty bug is sweeping through Sisters, sending kids home from school and keeping adults out of the workplace.
Local health clinics are getting "scores" of calls about patients with high fevers, fatigue and often respiratory symptoms.
"We're pretty sure it's the swine flu," said Jennifer Knowles, an RN at High Lakes Health Care in Sisters.
Dr. Joseph Bachtold at Bend Memorial Clinic concurred.
"We can't say with any certainly that this is the H1N1 virus, but it certainly acts and sounds like it," he said.
Clinics aren't testing to determine the flu's origin, mostly because the test isn't very sensitive - at best offering a 50/50 chance of an accurate determination. And it really doesn't matter much anyway.
"If it's not going to change your management, why order a test?" Dr. Bachtold said. "It's more academic than anything else."
Management generally consists of staying home, taking fever-reducers like Tylenol, getting plenty of fluids and rest. That's sufficient for the majority of patients.
"What we're seeing, it all seems pretty mild," Dr. Bachtold said.
However, some patients need more treatment, particularly if they develop respiratory problems.
Knowles said that some patients develop a "reactive airway" - inflammation that resembles asthmatic symptoms that make it hard to breathe and leave the flu victim feeling even more exhausted.
Those folks need treatment, she said. Nebulizers seem to bring relief and help them turn the corner.
Knowles said those who are getting worse instead of better by the third day of the virus should definitely seek medical attention.
Knowles knows first hand. She developed the reactive airway symptoms in her own bout with the flu.
"My daughter brought it home from the middle school," she said. "We came down with it at the same time."
For most people, the bout lasts about five days. That means a lot of days out of school. Sisters schools have seen dozens of absences, mostly due to flu. On Monday, October 5, 94 students were out at Sisters High School; 104 at Sisters Middle School; and the elementary school reported 84 out. Absences dropped off some at all schools during the week, but remain high.
School nurse Sally Benton said that anyone with flu symptoms will be sent home - and she wants them to stay there. School guidelines require that anyone with a fever stay home until they have had a normal temperature - without help from Tylenol or other fever-reducers - for 24 hours.
Not only will that help quell the rapid spread of the virus; it is better for the patient.
Benton said they have had students come back too soon and end up going back home sick again.
The virus appears to have an incubation period of three to seven days.
The flu seems to be hitting children disproportionately, which may be another indication that the virus is, indeed, H1N1.
"There's thought to be (some) immunity in older adults," Dr. Bachtold said.
Without certainty about the nature of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control are still recommending H1N1 vaccination for children even if they've had the flu.
Dr. Bachtold said that even though one of his children came down with the bug, "I'm still going to immunize my kids."
Sisters schools are expecting to offer the vaccine some time late this month. However, public health officials in Oregon announced last week that vaccines are coming in more slowly than expected, so immunization programs may be delayed.
Knowles said there may be light at the end of tunnel, since Sisters seems to be in the grip of the second of the traditional three waves of the virus.
"Usually the second wave (of a virus) is the worst of the three and we're at the peak of that," she said. "So we should start turning the corner."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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