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MOUNDSVILLE -- Approximately 50 cases of pneumonia are being reported among children in Marshall County Schools, according to officials today.
"Cameron Elementary School and Hilltop Elementary School have a high percentage of reported cases," said Shelby Haines, superintendent of schools.
The outbreak, though, isn't limited to those two schools.
"There are around 50 reported cases," said Thomas Cook, Marshall County Health Department administrator
The majority of cases are occurring "in a couple of schools," he said, but added,
This illness "is not just confined to Marshall County.
There are other cases of this throughout the state," said Tony Wood, spokesman for Marshall County Schools.
It has yet to be determined whether the cases of pneumonia are caused by a virus or bacteria, Cook said.
State epidemoliogists are sending testing kits to the health department for distribution to rapid care facilities, Cook said. Swabs taken from patients will be sent to the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health for testing and diagnosis of the form of infection affecting local residents.
Treating the symptoms is recommended for either form of pneumonia.
Antibiotics, however, are prescribed only for bacterial pneumonia. Doctors "are not going to give antibiotics unless you have a bacteria that you want to eradicate," Cook explained.
Extensive cleaning is being done in school buildings to prevent additional cases.
"Last week, we began getting phone calls of reported cases of illness in a number of schools," Haines said. "When those reports came, we began cleaning with an approved disinfectant to try to get a jump on it. We increased the custodial staff to clean with approved methods."
The superintendent said the school district has bought its own ionizer, a machine that is being used for cleaning during after-school hours. "In the evening, we run a cleaning device that sprays disinfectant on all surfaces, on top of regular cleaning. It sprays a mist and sticks to surfaces," she said.
In addition, school personnel and health educators are training children on the importance of hand washing, using facial tissues and coughing into one's elbow. "Hand washing is the key to everything," Cook said.
The health department has sent a sanitarian to Cameron and Hilltop schools to check the facilities. "The county (school system) has really been pro-active in cleaning and education," the health administrator said.
When the outbreak began, "we started to receive calls from the parents, from the urgent care (centers) with people coming in with some difficulty breathing, wheezing, lethargy, fever. Chest X-rays were showing congestion in lungs and classical signs of pneumonia," Cook said.
The health official predicted that pneumonia also will affect the adult population and younger children. Patients can go back to school or work when their fever subsides for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, he said.