A barking cough?

[quinne]

DS1 has come home from school today with a note from the school to say there is a swine flu case there. He went out this morning with what I thought/ still strongly suspect is a cold but when he came home it had got worse.
He's got a slight temperature, a sore throat, a runny nose and a barking cough. What's the swine flu cough like?

And in the current environment, is it fair on other children and parents to send him in tomorrow?

My neighbour has had the cough, it was a rough, loud, painful sounding cough, she recovered ok from the swine flu but still has the cough 3 months on. I personally wouldnt send him in.

He's got a temperature and other flu-like symptoms in the middle of a flu pandemic, so no, it wouldn't be fair on anyone for you to send him in, it would be the exact opposite of what we're supposed to all be doing, which is trying to stop it spreading.

There isn't a single kind of cough that marks out swine flu, otherwise that would be what's on all the NHS information - what's on the information is things like fever, sore throat, cough, i.e. exactly what your ds has got. Anything like that might be swine flu and you have to treat it accordingly which definitely means not sending him into school.

I hope he feels better soon.

I have the same symtpoms as the OP, although have been feeling rough for a few weeks on and off, and the cough originally started back in May(!) after a nasty ear infection. Has been on and off, as has the other symptoms. I have a cold, not flu though.

However, IMO if he is ill, then regardless of SF he should stay home and get better.

However, when I posted that I had these symptoms last week, the resounding vote was that I should be going into work

Lots of bugs going round at present. We had 7 off yesterday; 5 today and keep having to send children home who are being sent in off colour and get worse during the day. This is why I have ongoing cold and bugs!

Well I sent him to school this morning as his temperature is normal and I asked the teacher to call me if she judges that he'd be better at home as the day progresses.

There was a lot of concern in the playground about the Swine flu case though and questions about whether it has all been over-hyped or not and whether they should keep their child at home rather than put their family at risk.

Maybe half term next week has come at exactly the right moment?

I thought the main test for swine flu was a very high temp. There's a website where you can do a questionnaire and they will tell you at the end whether you need Tamiflu and give you a number if so.

Remember too, not everyone gets the side effects.

I gave dd Tamiflu in the end because her fever was rising so rapidly and getting so high. I figured I'd rather deal with nightmares than with her being hospitalised.

In the event, Tamiflu just made her better. She had no side effects at all.

Here's the site. National Pandemic Association questionnaire.

Is this really the right time to send into school children who are borderline ill for the teacher to keep an eye on and send home later if necessary ? Your ds has had a temperature, and could very easily have SF. You don't have to have a very high temperature to have it - you do to get Tamiflu, but that's a different issue, that's the NHS having to set a cut-off so that people who aren't really ill enough don't get Tamiflu.

He could easily spread it to other children at the school today - healthy children, or maybe ones with asthma or with mothers who are pregnant.

Those people in the playground who've gone as far as thinking about if they should keep their children at home to protect their families will be cursing you, even if they don't say so to your face! The teacher won't be too pleased either.

In the next few weeks an awful lot of people are going to be vaccinated - is it too much to ask for people to be extra careful (more than in a normal year) when it comes to keeping their children off school - rather than sending them in when they're borderline ill? If people won't make the effort to be careful through the whole of the pandemic, couldn't they at least be careful until those in the higher-risk groups have had the chance to be vaccinated if they want to be?

I agree, the more we can slow it down at the moment, then more people can be vaccinated against it and those who are vulnerable be protected. I can't stand the 'well its in the community' argument, the more people that act on that, the faster it will spread through the community.