WCS with Tips on Keeping Your Child Healthy During Flu Season

The Williamson County Schools In Focus  newsletter recently published helpful information and tips related to enterovirus D68, or EV-D68, which have already been confirmed in Tennessee.

  • With the fall season in full effect, it’s important to watch out for signs of the EV-D68 virus,  one of more than 60 types of enterovirus which commonly cause cold-like symptoms in people. EV-D68 can cause mild to severe respiratory illness. Mild symptoms of EV-D68 may include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, and body and muscle aches. Severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing
  • Anyone experiencing severe illness or difficulty breathing should talk with his or her health care provider for evaluation, and parents of children who show any sign of trouble breathing should contact their child’s health care provider. This virus has recently been linked to a few cases of a polio-like paralysis and a small number of deaths in other states; however, no causal relationship has been established.
  • Since EV-D68 causes respiratory illness, the virus can be found in an infected person’s respiratory secretions, such as saliva, nasal mucus, or sputum. EV-D68 likely spreads from person to person when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches a surface that is then touched by others.
  •  People who are sick with respiratory symptoms should not attend school or go to work or other places where they can spread their infection until symptoms have resolved.

For the full article including prevention tips click here

For information related to the WCS Policy on Communicable Disease and our Health Care Services please click here: http://www.wcs.edu/school-board/policies/ and http://www.wcs.edu/departments/health-services/.