Parents take pupils home after swine flu outbreak

Youngsters were told shortly after they arrived for registration on Tuesday that one of their fellow pupils had caught the virus.

The Radcliffe Road school is the first in Greater Manchester to be affected by swine flu, and only the second in the North West, following confirmation of a case in Warrington earlier this month.

The Derby High pupil is thought to have caught the disease from an adult male in her family in Bury who picked up the virus from an unknown source in this country.

She came into school for two hours on Friday, but went home after complaining of feeling ill.

The Health Protection Agency confirmed that the girl had an H1N1v infection, better known as swine flu, and Bury Council were made aware of the situation on Monday evening.

She is said to have only mild symptoms, and is now recovering at home and taking anti-viral medication.

The school moved quickly to reassure parents and pupils that there was no need for panic and that, for the most part, lessons would continue as normal.

Staff and pupils who came into close contact with the infected student were sent home for seven days and given advice about how to obtain Tamiflu, but everyone else was told to stay in school.

Headteacher Alyson Byrne said: “I appreciate that we are the first school in the Greater Manchester area to be affected, so parents are going to be a little bit worried.

“We just want to reassure parents that all the actions we have taken have been in response to the considered advice of health professionals.

“We didn’t want the massive disruption that would have entailed in shutting the school, and we didn’t feel that would have been justifiable.”

On Tuesday, the council posted a community response officer to guard the school’s main entrance on Radcliffe Road and check all traffic entering the school.

A council spokesman said: “In conjunction with advice provided by NHS Bury and the Health Protection Agency, the