Swine flu prompts hundreds of schools to close

CHICAGO (AP) — The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide, and normally quiet school nurses' offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

Last week alone, the number of schools that shut down climbed daily. By Friday, the U.S. Department of Education said 351 schools had been closed — affecting more than 125,000 students.

School officials suspect not all the closings were reported to the Education Department and that the number of actual closings is far higher.

One of the schools to close for a few days was St. Charles East High School in suburban Chicago. Officials there say so many kids were out sick — 800 out of 2,200 — that it was impossible to operate.