SIX female students of the Okuapeman Senior High School at Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region have contracted the H1N1 disease (swine flu).
A report on samples taken from them and sent to the Noguchi Memorial Research Centre in Accra confirmed the infection.
They were among 35 female students rushed to the nearby Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital at Akuapem Mampong on Sunday March 21, 2010 after they complained of difficulty in breathing.
Four were treated and discharged but 25 are still on admission for further observation. No male student had been affected.
Although the situation had been put under control for the students to write their end-of-term examinations, two medical teams, one from the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital and the Akuapem North Health Management Team, were currently at the school to closely monitor the health conditions of the students and the general environment in the school.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and Dr Erasmus Agongo and Mrs Rene Boakye Boateng, Eastern Regional directors of the Ghana Health Service and the Education Service respectively, yesterday visited the school and the hospital to assess the condition of the students.
Briefing the Regional Minister and the two regional directors at a meeting, which was also attended by the staff of the school, the Headmaster, Mr Felix Essah-Hienoo, said it all started on Sunday, March 21, 2010 when 10 female students complained of coughing and difficulty in breathing and had to be sent to the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital at Mampong.
He said eight other female students, who also complained of coughing later in the day were sent to the same hospital. Seventeen other students made similar complaints and were admitted to the hospital on Monday, March 17, 2010.
Mr Essah-Hienno said two of the girls who had been discharged were being quarantined in the school and asked parents not to panic, since the situation had been put under control and everything going on normally.
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