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When it comes to the flu, schools can be a "germ factory" for spreading the virus.

Every day, hundreds of students touch the same desks, doorknobs and sinks, increasing the chances of passing illness from one person to another.

With the H1N1 virus being a concern this winter, the Webster County Health Department and area schools are working together to prevent the illness by vaccinating as many students as possible, said Kari Prescott, director of the Webster County Health Department.

Prescott said a total of 6,406 permission forms were sent home to students in the Southeast Webster-Grand, Prairie Valley, St. Edmond and Fort Dodge schools to allow them to receive the vaccine. Out of the 6,406 students, approximately 3,500 vaccinations have been given. Students at Fort Dodge Senior High are the only remaining students that have not yet been vaccinated for H1N1.

"We've had about 55 percent of the permission forms returned allowing students to receive the vaccine," said Prescott. "Overall, that's a pretty good percentage, and we've had some parents call in and say they'd missed the chance to get the form in on time, so we're making arrangements to take care of those students too."

At Prairie Valley High School, in Gowrie, 152 of the school's 240 students were signed up to receive the vaccine Friday morning, PVHS School Nurse Windy Goodwin, said. At the district's middle school, 119 students were vaccinated.

Goodwin said there have been a few more flu-related absences within the district this year, but not a significantly large number at one time districtwide.

"We did have a day when there were 13 absences in sixth grade alone," she said. "At the middle school I receive a report of who is gone each day and why, and most of those absences were because of the flu."

Because Prairie Valley has schools located in Webster and Calhoun counties, they have also been working with the Calhoun County Department of Health to vaccinate the district's elementary and middle school students.

At Southeast Webster-Grand, 85 of the district's high school students received the H1N1 vaccine Friday afternoon, SW-G High School Principal Dan Grandfield said.

"For the students, it's a really nice thing that they can do this at school and in one location," Grandfield said. "We're hoping it helps with our efforts to prevent the flu."

Grandfield said all SW-G classrooms have a bottle of hand sanitizer, and students and staff wipe down desks every day.

"We've been doing all of the preventive things that we possibly can," he said.

In Iowa, many cases of influenza are being called H1N1, Prescott said, but most are not considered true cases of the illness unless a patient's test comes back positive from the University of Iowa.

"Anyone hospitalized with flu-like symptoms is tested," said Prescott.

As of Friday, the H1N1 virus has been the cause of 24 deaths and about 650 hospitalizations statewide, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported.

Prescott said there have been very few confirmed cases of H1N1 in Webster County.

"Right now our concern in the schools is the 45 percent that didn't receive the vaccine," she said. "We're expecting that the flu could peak again in January, so we're going to continue to hold clinics to get everyone vaccinated. One of the most important things to know is, unless a person has been hospitalized with a case of H1N1 that has come back positive from the lab, they should get vaccinated, even if they've been told they've had it."

Contact Emilie Nelson at (515)573-2141 or enelson@messengernews.net