Aug 26, 2009 6:25 pm US/Eastern
Swine Flu Infection A Stigma In NYC Schools
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
BRONX (CBS) ―
With school about to start, many are concerned about another outbreak of swine flu, but there is another hazard parents need to be aware of.
Gabriel Diaz, 14, and his sister Boranda, 13, have seen what happens to classmates who have swine flu. "People are being treated differently by everyone else because one person is sick and the other one is just normal. And because that person is sick they make fun of them," he said.
Their mother has helped calm their fears about swine flu, by talking openly about it. "Well at least she's letting us know because some people, they don't let their children know so they get scared," Boranda said.
It's the ignorance that leads to stigma.Evidence of that fear can be seen in more places than the classroom.
Steven Crimando is a Crisis Management Specialist who says parents involved with Little League teams have tried to postpone games or even tell kids "not to touch the ball after the other team had touched it or wanting to rotate or always have a new ball from the umpires and perhaps certainly at the end of the game not to shake hands with the opposing team."
Crimando said the stigma attached to swine flu is an invisible wound. "It's going to be very easy to detect who has a sniffle or cough or fever. It's going to be harder for adults to detect what children may be on the receiving end of bullying."
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Gardere had to educate his own kids when they were afraid of contracting the flu in school. "I tell them just try to calm down, get as much information from your teachers as possible. Let's talk about hygiene, let's talk about prevention, hand washing and I get them as much as possible information about the swine flu."
Experts said swine flu is easy to treat if it's caught early. The problem is in some areas, schools are expected to have about 30 to 40 percent of kids and teachers come down with it, so it's important to educate folks about it now.
Also, it's important for parents to be role models, and to stay calm about
the virus, since children will watch and mirror their parents' reactions.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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