KASARGOD: An outbreak of H1N1 viral infection has been reported in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Periya.Tests have confirmed five cases and 67 suspected cases, said district medical officer (DMO) AP Dinesh Kumar.
"We have quarantined the students showing the symptoms to arrest the spread of the infection," he said.
The Navodaya, with around 570 students, is a residential school and all the students, teachers and non-teaching staff stay on the campus.
"Our students first started falling sick on Thursday, and by Friday it was confirmed that some of them were infected by H1N1," said Kurian, a teacher of the school.The Health Department immediately sent a team of doctors and the students are being treated on the campus, he said.
The DMO said the team sent the swabs of five students to the virology lab in Manipal and all the samples tested positive for H1N1, a strain of swine flu.
"Since the students stay in a dormitory, we are treating all the suspected cases as confirmed H1N1 cases," he said. The virus is highly contagious and so the department has restricted the interaction with outsiders. "We don't know the source of the infection but we want to confine the outbreak to the campus," the DMO said.No new cases were reported on Sunday, he added.
The school, however, cancelled the regular visitation day on Saturday to avoid the spread. "The health department and the school are likely to call a meeting of parents on Monday at the Taluk Office to apprise them of the situation and answer their queries," he said.
H1N1 is an airborne disease and can spread from coughs and sneezes, said the DMO. Handshakes, hugs, kissing, sharing drinks or sharing blankets can also spread the virus, he said.