'School closures can slow flu'

Closing schools at the start of an H1N1 flu outbreak can greatly slow its spread and buy time to build up drug stocks, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Classrooms have played a role in the fast transmission of swine flu in New York and other locations. As educational institutions welcome back students across the northern hemisphere, many are considering how to reduce infection risks. Certain steps can slow the spread of H1N1, the UN agency said. The greatest benefits come "when schools are closed very early in an outbreak, ideally before one per cent of the population falls ill," it said.

"Under ideal conditions, school closure can reduce the demand for health care by an estimated 30-50 per cent at the peak of the pandemic."

It added: "However, if schools close too late in the course of a community-wide outbreak, the resulting reduction in transmission is likely to be very limited."

Reducing the number of people needing medical care is especially important because clinics risk being overrun. School closures can provide extra time for authorities to build up supplies of antiviral drugs such as Roche's Tamiflu or vaccines being developed by companies like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis.