Dear Parents

I would like to let you know that we have an unusually large number of pupils off school this week with upper respiratory infection symptoms. The main symptoms seem to be high fever, sore throat and often abdominal pain and in a few cases, diarrhoea.

These symptoms are typical of a viral illness and I have had only one or two reports of children with 'strep throat' which would be expected anyway.

I would like to remind all parents not to send your child to school if they have a fever and these kind of symptoms as the illness is proving to be very contagious. Indeed, we currently have an approximately 25% absence today.I have today checked with the Guven and MESA hospitals and another community physician about these symptoms and they have informed me that this is a problem in Ankara generally, especially in the 5-10 years age group. They have all reported that simple viruses are causing the symptoms in most cases, so there is no cause for alarm about other kinds of infectious disease.However, as always, any parent worried about their child's health should seek individual medical advice.Also, I would be grateful if parents would inform me if their child has developed any infectious disease other than as above, such as 'strep throat', so we can monitor the situation.

Yours sincerely

Glynis Ozcan
School Nurse