Sir – As a parent of two children at Sandhills Community Primary School, I wish to challenge the ‘allegations of secrecy’ surrounding the timing of and manner in which information was released by the school and the health authority.

In the letter given to parents on Friday, May 1, it was clearly stated that the diagnostic investigations at that time had confirmed Influenza A in the index case and that specific sub-typing had not yet been completed. This was released at 3pm, within an hour of the school being informed.

During the afternoon of Saturday, May 2, the majority of parents had been phoned within a few hours of the confirmation of the H1N1 strain. The numerous suggestions of ‘contradictory answers’ by the PCT contained within your article can only suggest misunderstanding of this diagnostic process, or ignorance of the facts.

Further, you have weakly exploited ambiguity and omission of contextual facts to exaggerate the risks to other children and thereby to inflame the anxiety of this community. For example, you chose to omit from this report that the index child was healthy (and therefore not infectious) while at school on the preceding Friday (April 24) and was not returned to school after becoming ill during that weekend.

Surely, as responsible journalists, you are obliged to report clearly that the child was not at school during the ‘week before news was released’? The wise and laudable decision of the child’s parents was matched by the rational response of the appropriate authorities. To have released any speculative information any earlier would have been entirely inappropriate, tantamount to scaremongering.

Shaun Scott, Sandhills