Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: School Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review

In the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, closing schools would be one of the most likely non pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) considered to contain the outbreak, consistent with social distancing theories (Hodge 2006, Germann 2006). Children in preschool and school-age groups are frequently observed to amplify transmission of many forms of flu (Bell 2006, Germann 2006), and are often the first mechanism for introducing transmission into the home (Cedron 2006). Despite the propensity of influenza epidemics to be amplified in primary schools, data on the effectiveness of school closures are limited (Bell 2006), especially in recent years, and the impact of school closures on illness rates appears to be mixed (Ingelsby 2006).