Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

[jeanne]

Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school
Breaking News.ie
09/08/2009 - 10:13:11

Almost 300 students have been sent home from an Irish language college in Donegal because of an outbreak of swine flu.

Eleven teenagers at Coláiste Mhuire in Loch an Iúir in the west of the county have tested positive for the virus.

Six students were initially sent home after they became ill on Thursday and a further five cases were confirmed yesterday.

Headmaster at Coláiste Mhuire, Donal O'Neill, said the school will re-open next week,

“Our latest information is that we are available to re-open next Saturday and we intend to do that.

“Now public health could come to us in the interim and tell us that that's not an option but at the minute we're operating that we will be opening again next Saturday.”

Dr Tony Delap, who was attending to the students, said they were suffering from a mild strain of the virus.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/swine-flu-closes-gaeltacht-school-421828.html#ixzz0NzDFYP9e

 

[jeanne]

Re: Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

Second Gaeltacht college hit by swine flu outbreak
Breaking News.ie
10/08/2009 - 13:20:47

A second Gaeltacht college in Donegal has been hit by an outbreak of swine flu.

The HSE has confirmed that a number of cases of the virus have been detected at Coláiste Bhride in Ranafast.

The cases follow an earlier outbreak at Coláiste Mhuire Loughanure, which was closed at the weekend after 11 students contracted swine flu.

More than 300 students were sent home.

Coláiste Bhride remains open, but the situation is being monitored.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/...-swine-flu-outbreak-422016.html#ixzz0NzDdajA9

 

[jeanne]

Re: Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

Another Gaeltacht college hit by swine flu
Irish Examiner
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 01:03 PM

Another Irish college in Co Donegal has been hit by swine flu, with one student already testing positive for the illness.

The results of tests on other pupils at the college in Magheroarty are expected later today.

Col?iste Mhuire Loughanure has already closed due to an outbreak of the virus, while Col?iste Bhride in Ranafast sent home a number of students with suspected swine flu earlier this week.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...ge-hit-by-swine-flu-422288.html#ixzz0NzCseRCL

 

[jeanne]

Re: Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

Swine flu forces Irish college closure
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 14:05
RTE News

Col?iste Bhr?de in Ranafast, Co Donegal, is to close tomorrow and the remaining 275 students will be sent home.

Two students at the college tested positive for the swine flu (H1N1) virus.

Over 30 children have been sent home since Monday with suspected symptoms.

Parents have also been also removing their children from the Irish college, where the course was due to run until 16 August.

Test results from students sent home from Col?iste Mhachaire Rabhartaigh, Cloughaneely, are expected later today.

 

[jeanne]

Re: Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

Irish Times.com
Last Updated: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 19:35
Swine flu shuts third Irish college
EITHNE DONNELLAN, Health Correspondent, and EOIN MCGARVEY
A third Irish college in the Donegal Gaeltacht closed today because of further cases of swine flu.

Authorities at the Gael Linn run college at Machaire Rabhartaigh near Gortahork decided today to shut the college following an increase in pupils presenting with symptoms of the pandemic H1N1 flu.

Some 160 students were attending the course which was due to run until Sunday, August 30th.

Irish colleges at Rann na Feirste and Loch an I?ir have already closed due to swine flu outbreaks.

Meanwhile, the numbers of people hospitalised with swine flu across the State has increased over the past week, according to the Department of Health.

Its deputy chief medical officer Dr Eibhl?n Connolly told a press briefing at Government Buildings this evening that there are currently 21 people in hospital with swine flu.

At the end of last week a total of 27 people had been hospitalised with the illness since the pandemic began but as of lunchtime yesterday this figure had increased by 23 to 50. Four of those hospitalised in the last week were admitted to intensive care units, she said.

Of those currently in hospital with swine flu four are under 4 years, two are in the 5 to 14 year age group, 13 are in the 15 to 64 years age group and two are over 65 years.

Dr Connolly added that 29 of the 50 people who had been hospitalised to date had recovered and gone home. But one person, 18-year-old Sligo cystic fibrosis sufferer Darina Calpin who contracted swine flu died last week.

About half of the patients who have had to be hospitalised had pre-existing clinical conditions, she said.

Meanwhile the number of people presenting to GPs with influenza like illness has decreased slightly over the past week. Dr Connolly said the consultation rate, which was 35.3 per 100,000 of population last week, stood at 33.1 per 100,000 this week, the equivalent of some 1,456 cases nationally. This indicated flu activity in the community is ?stable?, she said.

Some 78.6 per cent of cases seen by GPs were under 35 years of age.

There have been several localised outbreaks at summer schools, not just at Irish colleges in Donegal, and these were managed appropriately, she said.

Meanwhile Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the HSE, has said there is no firm date yet for the arrival of swine flu vaccines in Ireland but they were expected in the autumn, subject to licensing and safety checks. He said the best treatment for pandemic flu was to prevent it by vaccination. It was therefore important that everyone availed of the vaccine when offered it.

He also confirmed HSE and Department of Health officials met with the Department of Education yesterday and it was agreed there was no reason schools and third level colleges should not reopen for the new term.

He said the swine flu virus at present was a mild to moderate disease and unless that situation changed there was no reason for schools to remain closed. ?There is no need for anybody not to go back to school at the moment,? he stressed, even if they had asthma for example. ?A child?s education is very important?.

 

[jeanne]

Re: Swine flu closes Gaeltacht school

Irish Times.com
Last Updated: Friday, August 14, 2009, 17:49
Galway swine flu outbreak confirmed
EITHNE DONNELLAN

Details of another outbreak of swine flu, which began earlier this week among language students on the campus of the Galway Mayo Institute ofTechnology (GMIT) in Galway city, emerged today.

In a statement the college said three cases of swine flu had been confirmed among young Italian students attending a summer language course run by an English language company called MLI on the GMIT campus.

"The students have been quarantined at their accommodation in line with HSE regulations under the supervision of two medical doctors who are accompanying the group throughout their stay in Galway," a college spokeswoman said.

"Since the cases were confirmed on Tuesday all of the other remaining students in the group have not attended any activities on the GMIT campus," she added.

She stressed GMIT is open as normal and all appropriate precautions advised by the HSE for third level colleges in the context of dealing with the swine flu pandemic were in place.

In the past week students have been sent home from three Irish language courses in the Donegal Gaeltacht due to swine flu outbreaks.