Senate pages being treated for 'flu-like' symptoms

Four Senate pages are being treated by the Capitol’s physician for “flu like” symptoms according to Terry Gainer, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, but he declined to comment on whether it was swine flu.

Gainer would not say whether or not the pages had contracted the H1N1 flu, popularly known as the swine flu, but did say they are taking "the recommended approaches" when it comes to treatment and prevention.

He said that some of the pages who were being treated by the Office of the Attending Physician live in the vicinity of Capitol Hill and were at home, while a few others had returned to the dorms.

“With over 50 pages in our summer program it is not unusual to have a sore throat or runny nose,” Gainer said.

“The doctors are comfortable with our approach. We are in contact with parents. We continue to follow our doctors recommendations and also taking all the recommended approaches the entire nation has been getting.”

The office of the Senate Secretary, which oversees the Senate page program, did not return calls for comment.

The Office of the Attending physician is responsible for the primary care and emergency health services for visiting dignitaries, pages, staff and tourists at the Capitol.

Pages are selected by Members to participate to fulfill a variety of duties on Capitol Hill, from delivering messages to members to delivering packages for members.

In an unrelated moveed, the House Homeland Security Committee plans to hold a hearing on pandemic flu preparation, including a review the responses to H1N1 flu cases, on Wednesday.

-- Lauren Burke contributed to this story.

---