Darien Students Seemingly Immune to Flu Sweeping through DuPage County Schools

Despite the spike in absences due to the flu in DuPage County schools, Darien students have been largely unaffected by the respiratory bug.

Influenza activity in DuPage County has been on the rise since earlier this year, said a DuPage County health department spokesman.

In mid-January, the overall student absenteeism rate due to influenza-like illness was almost 3.5 per 1,000 students. That number spiked to 8.54 in early February, and is currently at 5.8 absences per 1,000 students.

Lisa Lantvit, principal at in Darien, said though the flu is a typical occurrence around this time of year, she hasn’t seen an increase in student absences.

“There are plenty of sniffles going around but not to excess,” she said.

Dr. Laura Anderson, principal at , has also not seen a large amount of absences due to the flu.

“And we’re not sending a lot of kids home sick either,” she said.

For parents who want to keep their kids healthy, the DuPage health department offers a few tips to prevent the flu from spreading.

“Students and staff should practice frequent hand washing and respiratory hygiene—cover your cough with a tissue or your arm, not your hand—in addition to flu vaccination,” the department spokesman said.

He also urges students and staff who are ill to stay home until at least 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.

“This will help reduce the number of people who may get infected,” he said.

Another tip?

“Get your family vaccinated for seasonal flu, if (they’re) not already,” he said. “It’s not too late.”

Symptoms of the flu include a fever or 100 degrees or more, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache and fatigue.

People at high risk of serious flu complications include young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease and people 65 years and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated the DuPage County absentee rate as a percent when the number actually accounted for individual student absences. Patch regrets the error.