H1N1

The H1N1 virus has been as much in the news here as back in the U.S. There has been much debate on whether or not to get the vaccine and confirmed cases are being tracked throughout the country. We didn't get the vaccine until a month or so after it was available in the U.S. The kids had gotten the regular flu shot several weeks ago, but I was undecided on whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccine.

And now H1N1 has hit our school. We got an e-mail a few weeks ago that there was a confirmed case of H1N1 at the school, but that we shouldn't panic. The student was at home resting comfortably. And we keep getting e-mails. More and more confirmed cases at ISF are being reported. Many parents have been panicking, requesting that the school be closed, and everyone is sending their kids to school with their own bottle of hand sanitizer (nothing like Purell, sanitizers here seem to be pure watery alcohol). A few students have even shown up at school wearing face masks.

Our school is notorious in the area. No other school seems to have so many cases of H1N1. We are "that international school with all those cases of swine flu."

Last Saturday morning, Emilie began running a fever. Uh oh. Several kids in her class had had H1N1. This could be our turn, or it could be another virus. By the evening, Rebecca was running a fever. Uh oh. Em must have given it to Bex. For the next few days, the girls cuddled on the couch together watching DVDs and had slumber parties in the same bed. They seemed to be better on Monday, but then Monday night, their fevers rose again. Enough. We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday and they were both tested for H1N1.

I gulped and said, "Now, if they do have it, I have to report it to the school, right?" The doctor said, "Yes, you do." I proceeded to whine, "But, there have been no cases of H1N1 at Rebecca's Kindergarten. Everybody in the area already thinks that ISF is, oh, I don't know, dirty somehow since we have so many more cases of H1N1 than any German school. And now I'll be the first parent at the German Kindergarten who has to call and say 'My kid has swine flu.'"

The doctor looked at me sympathetically and said, "Let me explain something to you. It's true that some people think your school has more cases because you're at an international school, with parents and kids traveling all over the world and bringing back diseases to Germany. That is simply not the case. What is happening is that most families at ISF are expat families with private health insurance. When we see a patient with private health insurance, we test them. The private health insurance covers the cost of the test. 90% of Germans have public health insurance. In that case, someone has to pay for the H1N1 test, either the doctor or the patient, and no one wants to pay for it. The doctors feel pressured to pay themselves if the parents balk at the cost, but that is so expensive for us. As a result, most Germans who have suspected cases of swine flu are not being tested. There are as many cases of H1N1 in German schools, they are just not confirmed. So, don't worry about it."

We needed to wait 1-3 days for the test results, during which time Becca and Em had to stay home from school, even though they were fine by the following day.

This morning the doctor called with the results, with the unbelievable results. Emilie was negative, but Rebecca was positive. I needed to repeat the results back to him twice to be sure I had heard him correctly. How could that be possible? Emilie was the one who was at school with several infected classmates and even more strangely, how did Becca not pass it on to Emilie, considering that had been joined at the hip for the last week?

And yes, I needed to make that difficult call to the Kindergarten, that my dirty foreign daughter had had H1N1. It didn't matter that some of her classmates had probably had it as well. Becca was the only confirmed case. Curse this private insurance!