Got swine flu? Tweet it.

When students return to school this fall, school nurses will once again chase after them with hand sanitizer. Familiar posters about sneezing into elbows will plaster the hallways. But when it comes to managing a potential swine flu outbreak in high schools, county health officials are going beyond cartoon admonitions.
"We're going to start the 'Don't Let the Flu Get You' page on Facebook," said Joy Alexiou, head of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's flu prevention campaign. "Students know best how to talk to each other. We just want to give them the tools and information so they're communicating the correct information."
The county will use the Facebook page, as well as posts to MySpace and Twitter, to get health updates out as quickly as possible. It'll also equip students with T-shirts and details about a swine flu prevention video contest, counting on the wisdom that knowledge sinks deeper into students' heads if it comes from their peers.
The teen-centered strategy responds to one of swine flu's quirks: Unlike the seasonal flu, which mostly affects the elderly, this strain primarily befalls the young. To date, the county has 120 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, with 75 percent of those cases occurring in people under 24 years old. At least 32 of those cases resulted in hospitalizations; one 44-year-old Santa Clara County woman with a history of medical problems died from swine flu complications three weeks ago.
Statewide, there have been 3,168 swine flu cases, 441 hospitalizations and 55 deaths. Health officials say that deaths from swine flu are not surprising, since even in a normal year, the seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans. Most deaths are caused by respiratory infections, such as pneumonia.
Santa Clara County is borrowing its strategy from the federal government, which was quick to tap into social media tools during the spring swine flu scare, producing podcasts on hand washing, Twitter feeds with the latest infection numbers, and eCards on managing swine flu symptoms.
Experts believe the flu will resurface in greater numbers this fall, but are unclear if the strain — which has been relatively mild so far — will mutate and cause more severe illness. The county is still waiting to hear when a vaccine will be available, and deciding how to distribute it.
Officials see the social networks as the fastest, most direct way of communicating updates, and hope they will keep information flowing back from students, too.
"We know that with kids social networking is their life," said Karen Fuqua, manager of community development for the San Jose Unified School District. "They'll be telling county health what's going on at their schools."
The strategy will also help reach parents of high school students, an elusive group, Fuqua said. With elementary school kids, "backpack mail" has been a reliable way of communicating with parents. But parents can't rely on teens offering their bags for inspection, then discussing the contents over an after-school snack.
Both county and federal health departments are asking the public to translate their medical advisories into a pop culture format.
Public service announcements starring bad actors with bad haircuts fall flat with discriminating teenagers, stimulating sarcasm and not much more. But offer teens $2,500 to produce a video that educates and entertains their peers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes the message will spread on YouTube faster than the virus could in a school locker room.
This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called for 15-, 30- or 60-second videos that make hand washing seem as appealing as "Gossip Girl.'' Entries must be posted to YouTube by Aug. 17. Details can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov/psa/index.html. Santa Clara County will host its own contest for high school students in the fall — with much more modest prizes for the winners.
Melinda Landau, head of health services for San Jose schools, wondered how accurate medical information will remain as teens send it through Internet channels.
"It will be interesting to see how kids forward it to friends," she said, noting the false reports circulating this past spring as swine flu shuttered schools. "If they put their own spin on it, well, we'll have some rumor control problems."
But, Alexiou said, the social networking sites will be good for that, too. "If we hear about a rumor or misinformation, then we can share the right info with our fans," she said. "We can correct with some audiences as soon as we hear about it."