Respiratory Virus, Flu Hitting Schools Hard : Illness: An absentee rate of 30% is reported in county public schools. The first confirmed case of influenza-A in the county is identified.

Over the past two weeks, about 30% of Orange County public school students have missed classes because of either the flu or a respiratory virus that has left victims bedridden, health and school officials said Wednesday.

The student illness rate was reported as the county health care agency officially confirmed its first case of the season of influenza-A, a particularly nasty flu strain that causes high fever, pain in the joints and an overall achy feeling.

“We’ve got sore throats and drippy noses all over the place,” said Anthony Dalessi, an assistant superintendent at the Santa Ana Unified School District. “Everyone is sick.”

Those sore throats and drippy noses, however, could be attributable to another ailment that has hit Orange County hard--a respiratory virus that has almost the same symptoms as the flu. That virus is nothing compared to the real thing, influenza-A, said Dr. James Greenwood, deputy director of the county’s public health disease and control unit.

“This flu lingers on and on,” Greenwood said. “It’s going to drag on.”

The respiratory virus has hit schools particularly hard in recent weeks. With the milder virus already contributing to a 30% absentee rate in some districts in the past two weeks, the arrival of influenza-A is expected to empty classrooms even more.

Alan Trudell, a spokesman for the Garden Grove Unified School District, said almost all of its 61 schools have had higher than average absentee rates recently.

At Santiago High, an average of more than 300 of its roughly 2,000 students--about 15% of the student population--were sent home each day last week, more than twice the usual average for this time of year, Trudell said.

Teachers and support staff have not escaped the bug. Two nurses in the Garden Grove district have called in sick, Trudell said, and Dalessi reported that some Santa Ana instructors have skipped their free periods to fill in for their ailing colleagues.

At Fanning Elementary School in the Brea-Olinda Unified district, 48 of the 572 students were absent Wednesday because of the viruses.

“It’s been like this all week,” said Glenda Oxford, a secretary at the school. “This is a little bit better than Monday, when we had close to 60 out.”

While the respiratory virus has hit hard, influenza-A has been relatively mild thus far in the county. Health officials said there have been no reports of the flu in nursing homes, a particular concern among health care workers because senior citizens are especially vulnerable.

County officials are recommending that people especially at risk of developing pneumonia--including the elderly and people with chronic heart conditions or respiratory ailments such as asthma--get flu vaccinations. While some cities in the country have reported the vaccine in short supply, county officials say Orange County itself still has an ample supply.

For those who haven’t gotten the flu, there is a warning.

“Stay away from sneezing and coughing people,” said Greenwood, who was fighting a case of the sniffles as he spoke Wednesday. “And wash your hands often.”

But Greenwood admits the warning is often difficult to heed during the holiday season. “Everybody’s at the mall catching the flu,” he said.