Schools Fear Flu Will Hit Hard

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma school districts are preparing for outbreaks of swine flu as children return from summer break.

State and local health departments are working with local districts to plan for absences and stress prevention. Students in many school districts return to classes in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released updated guidelines for schools Friday. Government guidelines suggest school closures only if many students fall ill but leave that decision to local school officials.

More illness is expected because flu is transmitted more easily in the fall and winter. And swine flu, also known as H1N1, has been a steady foe, with cases increasing in the normally mild summer season.

More than 200 swine flu cases have been reported in Oklahoma.

If you're looking to protect yourself from the flu this year, itmight sting a little more than last year. Doctors are recommending as many as three separate shots.

One for the regular flu and two others for the H1N1 strand.

Scientists said it might be possible to combine the regular flu shot and the swine flu shot into one, but said it was too late to try it this year.