Parents are terrified that their children may have contracted the virus

Parents of students of St Anne's School, where Reeda Shaikh, India's first swine flu casualty, studied, are terrified that their children may have contracted the virus

Students of St Anne's High School and their parents are in the grips of a swine flu scare following the death of Reeda Shaikh (14), a Std IX student, on Monday. Reeda, who is India's first casualty to the global pandemic, had moved freely among the 2,600 children studying in the school, and parents are now worried that she may have passed on the virus to their children.

Shut
The school has shut the school down for two days following Reeda's death. Zoher Harnesswala, a member of the school's Parents-Teachers Association, is worried for her daughter Hussaina, who is in Std V.

"Is shutting the school for two days enough? What if some children have already contracted swine flu? The authorities have been grossly negligent in informing the school in time about the student testing positive for swine flu," Harnesswala said.

Parents are also worried that experts, who had been calling the strain of swine flu virus in India, a mild strain that was not capable of any serious damage, are now revising their opinion.

Zariier Karbhari, another parent, whose daughter is in Std V at the school, said, "Parents are really worried because there are no proper guidelines or instructions from the health authorities on what precautions the school should take to prevent the disease from spreading to other children. It appears that even health authorities are not clear what should be done in the situation."

Cautious
Yet another parent told this reporter that she would not send her daughter to school till she was sure that it is completely safe for her to do so. Lynette Wilson, the physical training teacher of the school, said had they known that Reeda had tested positive for swine flu, they would have been more cautious. "We were informed only on August 3 after Reeda passed away.

Health officials carried out intense fumigation of the school yesterday to disinfect the building. Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, the school management asked all the parents to get their children tested for swine flu, if they exhibitu00a0 slightest symptoms of cough, cold or fever.

Collector Chandrakant Dalvi said the administration was keeping a close watch on the situation. "There is no reason to panic as we are monitoring all possible places the swine flu victim might have visited, and persons she may have come in contact with."