Swine Flu Suddenly Slams Campus

[FourScore]

2,000 students at US university report swine flu symptoms
AFP
Sun Sep 6, 2:38 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AFP) – Some 2,000 students at Washington State University have reported symptoms of swine flu, university officials said, in one of the largest reported outbreaks of the virus on a US college campus.

The west-coast school last week instituted a blog to help provide information to students about the sudden and dramatic spread of the A(H1N1) virus on campus just days into the new school term.

"We estimate that we have been in contact with about 2,000 students with influenza-like illness in the first 10 days of our fall semester," the latest online posting said.

"At this time of year, we would typically only see a handful of patients with influenza-like illness. Health care providers in the local community have also seen WSU students with influenza-like illness, but we have no way of knowing how many.

"We also have no way of estimating how many students are self-caring at home without contacting us," school officials said.

They also said they had been asked by the county health department "to track numbers in this way to give us a better idea of how many students at WSU actually have influenza-like illness."

The university of about 19,000 students added that it is following guidelines issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in advising students how to avoid catching and spreading the virus.

WSU said it has begun handing out flu self-care kits to students.

"Two hundred of these kits have already been distributed with 1,000 more in process," university officials said, adding that none of the cases of swine flu so far has required hospitalization.

"The overwhelming majority of our patients have had mild symptoms and are usually better in three to five days," the university said.

None of the WSU cases have been fatal. There have been 593 swine flu-related deaths in the United States, however, second only to Brazil which has recorded 657 deaths.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090906/hl_afp/healthfluusuniversity_20090906183917

[neverforget]

1. My nephew is going there but I haven't heard if he is one of the sick.

[kestrel91316]

2. If these illnesses haven't required hospitalization, how do they know they

are SWINE flu? Nobody is doing universal testing of all ill people. They only test the hospital cases now, IIRC.

Scaremongering.

[stray cat]

3. Nose swabs are an easy test done in a nurses office- PCR is more definitive but more work

actually how do they even know they are sick - what test beyond their symptoms have they done to decide if they are really ill :sarcasm: If there hasn't been a definitive test - they may not even be sick.

[FourScore]

4. There are Rapid Type A flu tests available at every doctor's office in the US.

Google it.

[kestrel91316]

5. They are merely TYPE A tests, not specific for swine flu.

Seasonal flus are also Type A IIRC

[FourScore]

7. If the Type-A test is positive, swine flu is then determined through clinical evaluation

and can be confirmed with further testing.

[northernlights]

8. because it's not flu season

They are considering every case of nonseasonal flu to be H1N1 because of its prevalence and ease of spread.

So are they 100% sure? No. But it's the only nonseasonal flu making the rounds, and seasonal flu season doesn't start until October or November or so.

[mike_c]

6. we're waiting for it at my university....

One death in my county last month, a handful of reported cases otherwise, and fall semester began last week.

[northernlights]

9. I expect all the universities are readying for it

We got instructional handouts at my university last week. I'm in Med Lab Tech, where class and lab attendance is mandatory, and labs can't be made up, but they're bending the rules and asking us to stay home if we have flu symptoms.

[corpseratemedia]

10. a got the flu once during school from some guy sneezing 5 or 6 rows behind me

he wasn't even directly behind me but several seats to my right...several rows behind me (empty theater)



I think those large science and math classes are going to be ground zero for the spread of this