The 1st Girls' Intermediate School in Rakah, which was closed Sunday following the swine flu-related death of a 14-year-old student Saturday will reopen next week, said Samir Al-Omran, director of the Girls Education Department in the Eastern Province. The student last reported to the school Tuesday before leaving for Riyadh with her family for the weekend where she died, he said. The school has not reported any other swine flu cases, he added. Precautionary measures have been taken at the school to prevent any outbreak. Al-Omran phoned the father of the girl and offered him condolences from Prince Muhammad Bin Fahd, Emir of the Eastern Province, and his deputy. “My daughter did not develop any flu-like symptoms until we arrived in Riyadh Wednesday where she started to have high temperature and blue color skin,” said Ziyad Al-Qafidi, the girl's father. She was tested positive for the H1N1 virus at the Shumaisi Hospital, he said. The school superintendent said that the girl was a very good and cheerful student who also attended her classes and did her homework. “She asked to be excused from Wednesday's classes to travel with her family to Riyadh,” the superintendent said. When she was attending school in the first two weeks of the beginning of classes, she did not complain of a particular disease expect for her obesity, which always made it hard for her go up the stairs, she added. “We are extremely saddened and our thoughts go out to the family and friends of this child,” she added. A 12-year-old schoolboy from Al-Abbas Intermediate School in Al-Ras, Qassim Region, also died Saturday after he was tested positive for swine flu. Raed Al-Otaibi's medical report showed that he was suffering from acute lung infection, repeated epileptic seizures, and involuntary vomiting, a Ministry of Health statement said Saturday. The school was shut down for a week. Children from both schools were advised to stay at home and not congregate in public places.
