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GREENSBORO — Go to the front lines of swine flu.

Talk to a classroom teacher or someone who runs a preschool. Spend some time in a pediatric emergency room with a sick 6-year-old clutching a stuffed dog named Fluffy.

You hear about this fear of the unknown.

This bug one billionth our size has got us wearing masks, sneezing into our elbows, washing our hands a gazillion times and taking our kids to the hospital at the slightest runny nose.

Swine Flu Central — also known as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — is pouring out precautions to help protect some of the most susceptible to swine flu: young children.

Meanwhile, a vaccine is coming. And officials at Moses Cone Health System stress it’s safe. The hospital’s 7,500 employees are expected to start getting the vaccine next week.

But tell that to Jaime Bunnell. She is the director of Arts and Basics For Children, a preschool for 48 kids in Greensboro.

She’s also the mother of a 2-year-old boy named Abram.

She’s leery of that vaccine.

“I’d rather do the proper precautions and not be around sick children rather than take a chance on something that’s not tested and rushed through to contain the panic,’’ she says.

So, she prepares. Like everyone on the front lines.

She sends out regular e-mails to her parents about any preschool sickness, cleans everything her kids touch and has everyone at Arts and Basics for Children rub their hands with sanitizer at least six times a day.

Diane Mannino makes sure her second-graders at Peeler Open School for the Performing Arts wash their hands with soap and water at least four times a day.

She’s on a constant lookout for any students who appear “off.’’ That’s her word for the tell-tale sign of “hiney flu.’’ That’s her word, too.

She hasn’t had many classroom sicknesses. Maybe five kids out of 23. Still, in her 19 years of teaching, she’s never had so many parents with so many questions that often start like this: “Has anyone been sick?’’

“You feel like you’re standing on the edge and waiting for the bomb to drop,’’ said Mannino, a 55-year-old mother of two.

“We’ve heard so much about the hiney flu, and the reports of people dying, that it’s in the back of everyone’s mind, that thought of, 'I don’t want my child to be a statistic.’’’

At Moses Cone, there have been three reported deaths caused by the swine flu — all patients in their 50s. Today, in almost every case, doctors are seeing mild illness. Still, they worry the swine flu could mutate and become extremely infectious.

So, Moses Cone has bought two big tents, in case more patients start coming in. You see those tents during disasters. They become outdoor buildings.

Doctors will tell you the hospital’s game plan helps patients and families, nurses and doctors stay safe and healthy. It’s to help people like Amara Titus.

Amara is 6. Since Saturday, she’s had the classic signs of the flu — runny nose, coughing, sore throat, low-grade fever.
Her mother, 26-year-old Elisse Pratts, thought it could be just a head cold. But she had heard so much about the swine flu.

And after Amara didn’t get better, Pratts brought her oldest child to Moses Cone’s pediatric emergency room Wednesday.
She wanted to be sure. So, Amara came with everything that made her feel safe and comfortable: her pink shoes, her pink jacket, her pink shirt and her headband with pink ladybugs. And Fluffy, her stuffed dog.

“If I had swine flu, it would scare me,’’ Amara said in a tiny voice behind her hospital mask. “I don’t want to go up.’’
Amara pointed toward the ceiling. And you knew what she meant.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com