TRAVERSE CITY -- Lisa DeBolt is a pharmacist by day.
But for the past week, she's maintained that role by night, too, even after leaving her job at Thompson Pharmacy & Medical in Traverse City.
Her four children are bed-ridden with swine flu.
"My 12-year-old came down with it last Friday," DeBolt said. "Ever since then, it went from one kid to another every 24 hours."
Northern Michigan finds itself firmly in swine flu's grip, the bug -- technically the H1N1 virus -- responsible for school closings and rampant absenteeism, packed health clinics and booming sales of flu relief remedies.
All this after fewer than a dozen cases were diagnosed here in the months since June, after the H1N1 strain, which surfaced last spring, was declared a worldwide pandemic.
"Michigan has been one of only a handful of states not to have experienced widespread swine flu by this time, so it was bound to start here soon," said Dr. Michael Collins, medical director for the Grand Traverse and Benzie/Leelanau health departments.
Swine flu currently is the lone flu strain in Michigan, so health professionals are diagnosing patients with H1N1 if they show any sign of flu-like symptoms, Collins said.
And that's prompted plenty of foot traffic at area pharmacies, where the afflicted seek prescribed medications such as Tamiflu or Relenza, or over-the-counter symptom-fighting potions.
Thompson Pharmacy & Medical experienced such a flu-run this week that it ran out of Tamiflu, DeBolt said. The pharmacy should receive another shipment today.
And northern Michigan residents who've thus far avoided the flu bug stocked up on medication this week.
About 350 packages of cold medication and 70 packets of throat lozenges were sold Monday throughout Grand Traverse County, according to statistics from the Syndronic Surveillance Program.
That program tracks over-the-counter pharmacy sales, said Fred Keeslar, director of the Grand Traverse County Health Department.
Health officials also tout good hygiene as among the best ways to beat back the bug.
"This is a good time to reinforce with your children the importance of frequent handwashing and of avoiding hand-to-face contacts like rubbing your eyes or nose or chewing fingernails," Collins said.
School absenteeism climbs
Local schools are feeling the brunt of swine flu's march, including Traverse City West Middle School, where health officials reported 60 sixth-graders, 30 seventh-graders and 52 eighth-graders absent on Monday with flu-like symptoms.
Officials set up hand-sanitizer dispensers throughout the school Tuesday morning to attempt to stem the virus, Principal Pamela Alfieri said.
"Some children are sick, but that's being seen nationwide," Alfieri said.
Each day, health department officials monitor absenteeism among all county schools. On Monday, the sick count reached 267 in Grand Traverse County schools, prompting Collins to send a cautionary letter to parents.
"There is some indication that this will be the week for the swine flu to hit our community and our schools," Collins wrote.
The number of students out sick at Traverse City West High School increased to 67 Tuesday, up from Monday's count of 18, Keeslar said.
It's even worse elsewhere. More than 30 percent of students enrolled in Charlevoix County's East Jordan Public School District were absent last Friday with flu-like symptoms, and officials closed school doors Tuesday and today.
And Harbor Springs Schools in Emmet County are closed until next Monday after 26 percent of students enrolled at the high school were absent with flu-like symptoms Tuesday.
Vaccination clinics without vaccines?
Health officials in Grand Traverse county have organized swine flu vaccination clinics for local students to help quell additional outbreaks.
But there's one big problem: some clinics are slated for next week and there are no readily available vaccinations.
"We're all kind of holding our breath, hoping that the vaccinations come in," Keeslar said.
An initial batch of swine flu vaccinations arrived at Munson Medical Center, but none were sent to the Grand Traverse County Health Department, Collins said.
"We're hoping to get another thousand doses (today)," said Collins. Three hundred doses would be in nasal spray form and the other 700 would be administered by needle, he said.
Students from Grand Traverse Academy, Woodland School and Traverse City College Prep may receive swine flu vaccinations next week -- Oct. 27 -- at the county health department. But if the vaccinations don't arrive, the clinics will have to be postponed.
"We will get the vaccine into the schools as soon as we are able to, but our supplies so far are not sufficient for that," Collins said.
Seasonal flu vaccinations also have been hard to come by, and that's because both vaccinations tend to come from the same manufacturer, Collins said.
"They're turning their attention, rightfully, to the swine flu vaccines," he said.
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