Illness strikes hard at PCHS, PVHS 25 percent of high schoolers absent in Guilford

GUILFORD – Students at two high schools in the Penquis region were struck hard this week with a variety of illnesses that resulted in high absenteeism.

Although students at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford and Penquis Valley High School in Milo have had their share of sickness this week, it does not appear other schools have encountered the same.

Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, state epidemiologist, said Friday that other than a call from a school nurse in Milo, her department has not been alerted of any outbreak of illnesses in the state.

“It’s been a very quiet influenza season to date,” Gensheimer said.

But, she said, that doesn’t mean it won’t break out soon. Gensheimer said she could not provide a diagnosis of what the students in Milo and Guilford were suffering from since no laboratory analysis has been done by her department. She said it appears in the case of the Milo school that it’s a combination of illnesses.

A nasty, flu-like illness hit students especially hard at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford. PCHS Principal Bruce Lindberg said Friday that his school had a 25 percent absenteeism rate throughout the week, compared to 5 to 8 percent on a normal school week.

SAD 4 School Nurse Susan Pulkkinen, who could not be reached Friday by telephone, informed parents in a letter dated Thursday that influenza had officially arrived in the school district. She reported that the symptoms included body aches, fever, upper respiratory symptoms like coughing, earaches, sinus congestion and sore throat and extreme tiredness.

Pulkkinen wrote that the illness is highly contagious. She recommended that a child stay home until any fever has disappeared and the child’s energy level had returned. She also stated that strep throat has been reported in the district.

On Friday, 90 of the 326 Piscataquis Community High School students were absent with illness, according to the principal. Earlier this week, between 75 to 81 students were out each day with flu-like symptoms that included a high temperature, dizziness, respiratory problems and intestinal cramps.

“It hasn’t been fun,” Lindberg noted.

Lindberg said it was not unusual to have six to eight students in the office at the same time this week, waiting to be dismissed because they were sick. And for the first time in his five-year tenure at PCHS, basketball practices have been canceled because about half of the team members were ill, he said.

A small percentage of teachers also have been ill with the flu-like symptoms, Lindberg said. He said it appears to take three days to recover from the illness, and he’s hoping the three-day vacation over the weekend will provide students the rest they need to recoup.

At Penquis Valley High School in Milo, about 100 students were absent on Thursday, and 78 were absent on Friday. The district has a student population of about 900. Earlier in the week, there were approximately 90 students out sick, according to Alice Kinney, a school secretary.

SAD 41 School Nurse Sue Chaffee attributed the high absentee numbers in grades seven through 12 to a variety of illnesses.

“It’s been everything from chicken pox to upper respiratory illness,” she said Friday.

Chaffee said she had consulted the Department of Health about the illnesses because of the high absenteeism rate.

Other schools in the region have not had the problems PCHS and Penquis have encountered this week.

Judy Gilbert, a health center nurse at Foxcroft Academy, said Friday that there hasn’t been a health problem there this week.

And school officials at Greenville High School and Dexter Regional High School said Friday that they have not had many students out ill this week.