JEFFERSON — The number of students with the flu or who have flu-like symptoms in Jackson County schools is starting to decline, according to a news release from the school system.

“The flu numbers are very encouraging,” Superintendent Shannon Adams said last week in an e-mail. “It’s the first week in a long time that the total (with flu or symptoms associated with the flu) has been below 100. I hope the news continues to be good as we approach and return from winter break.”

About 76 students were sent home in the past week with flu or flu-like symptoms. On the west side of the county, West Jackson Intermediate School and West Jackson Middle School did not have any cases of students coming down with the flu or having flu symptoms. Gum Springs Elementary School had 21 cases and West Jackson Primary School had only seven cases. At Jackson County Comprehensive High School, only six students came down with the flu.

Since the beginning of the school year, only one student was confirmed to have the H1N1 flu, also known as the swine flu. The case was confirmed in August at Kings Bridge Middle School, and Principal Debra Morris asked the custodial staff to “conduct a thorough cleaning of the entire building consistent with the recommendations of public health officials.”

Custodians cleaned the building early the next morning before the students got there, concentrating on the wing where the sick student was and all surfaces that students come in contact with the most, such as keyboards and doorknobs.

Since that incident, school officials have been instructed to keep sick students, teachers and staff in a separate room until they can be sent home, limit the number of staff who take care of the sick person and provide a surgical mask for the sick person to wear if they can tolerate it, Adams said.