Grey Junior School in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape has sent 20% of its learner’s home following an apparent outbreak of influenza at the school.
Headmaster Lindsay Pearson has appealed to parents to keep their boys at home for the next two days. Pearson says all the school activities will continue as normal and all the learners that have been sent home have been advised to consult their doctors.
Twenty percent of the staff have also been absent as a result of the Influenza.
Physician specialist Dr Bevan Goqwana has urged people to vaccinate. He says it is common for people to be infected with flu during a change of season and temperature changes. Signs include high body temperatures and a blocked nose.
Goqwana says if not treated, influenza could lead to fatality.
“It’s a common infection that occurs especially when it’s cold in the winter season. And it can be very dangerous especially to people who have health compromised diseases, lung diseases, HIV and elderly are even compromised in one way or another. Hence, we always advise people around the end of March beginning of April that they must have an influenza vaccine.”
