Along with the holidays come seasonal illnesses. Typically the flu can be a parent’s worst nightmare but so far this year, school officials said a proactive approach seems to be working.
"Influenza is not a problem in our schools right now," Nancy Edtl, Anchorage School District Nursing Director said. "We are seeing fewer cases than we did last year and either it hasn’t hit our schools, or our immunization program against the flu is really helping."
Edtl said that for children, flu is at an all-time low in town. She thinks that may be due to the free flu vaccines administered to almost 8,000 students so far this school year.
"We hope to do more -- I really hope to reach the 10,000 mark before the Christmas break," Edtl said. "Next year I’d like to get up to 40 percent of the kids."
But the flu isn’t the only seasonal illness of concern. Pertussis, better known as whooping cough, is on the rise. So far this year, 210 cases have been reported across Alaska affecting both children and adults.
"Whooping cough has been around for a long time: it's vaccine-preventable, it is an illness that was much more common a few generations ago, but this epidemic this year is the biggest one that we've had in a long time," said Epidemiologist Brian Yablon, with the state Department of Health and Social Services.
Last year, there were 24 cases reported in Alaska. Yablon says whooping cough's preventability usually helps curb its rise.
"Having pockets of people that are unvaccinated makes it more likely that pertussis spreads," Yablon said. "The best thing that people can do is to make sure they are up to date with their vaccinations."
Any children feeling even the slightest symptoms of pertussis -- including a dry cough, mild fever and a runny nose -- must be treated with antibiotics before they can come back to school.
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