In addition to the physical implications of the H1N1 virus, self-isolation and worry over missing classes are plaguing students.
Emory University has been coping with the effects of the heightened amount of swine flu cases by offering a specific dorm for self-isolation, being lenient on attendance policies and accommodating walk-ins while maintaining a full appointment schedule at Student Health Services.
“Students with influenza should not go to class,” Michael Huey, director of SHS, wrote in a university-wide e-mail. “There will not be penalties for missing class because of illness with the flu.”
Huey said SHS is overflowing with students who have influenza-like symptoms and that SHS is accepting walk-ins.
“We’re seeing everybody that comes in, so that’s one of the reasons we’re working so late,” SHS Director Michael Huey said. “We had a completely full clinic schedule on Monday and 75 walk-in patients on top of the full schedule.”
A full schedule normally includes about 100 to 120 patients with appointments. On Wednesday, all the appointments were taken, and an additional 62 patients with influenza-like illnesses without appointments sought medical attention at SHS, Huey added.
The university has more than 200 cases of presumptive H1N1 illnesses, Huey said on Wednesday.
“We don’t have a way to test for H1N1 in Georgia right now, so we make the diagnosis of influenza A, and it’s a presumptive H1N1,” Huey said, adding that 98 percent of the influenza A currently circulating in the U.S. is H1N1.
Students who have been diagnosed with influenza A and H1N1 are being treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral medication which slows the replication of the virus. It is ideal to take Tamiflu within 48 hours after initial symptoms, for the medication begins to lose its effectiveness after that time period.
Tamiflu, a five-day treatment, has been helpful in slowing the virus in a shorter period of time, Huey said.
“Most students are showing signs of improvement within about 3 days,” he said.
Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control for those infected with swine flu include self-isolation until fever subsides for 24 hours without the assistance of fever-reducing medications.
“Anybody with influenza needs to be self-isolated,” Huey said. “Anybody who is sick and going to class … and not self-isolating is helping to spread this virus across the campus.”
The university and SHS urge diagnosed students to go home or stay with friends or relatives in the Atlanta area. Students who do not have either of these options are encouraged to move into Turman South residence hall, which is not occupied by any residents this year.
Huey said SHS is in “very close contact” with residence halls and Residence Life & Housing staff in providing self-isolation options for students. The SHS receives written consent from infected students to notify Residence Life & Housing professionals in Turman South of their self-isolation.
“Nobody is taken [to Turman South] against their will,” Huey said. “Students can self-isolate any place they have.”
Due to this recommended isolation, numerous students have been absent from classes, and in many cases, professors are loosening their attendance policies and encouraging ill students to refrain from attending class.
Vaidy Sunderam, chair of the mathematics and computer science department, said his department is offering extra help sessions, extra office hours and greater flexibility in turning in homework assignments due to the drop in attendance resulting from students contracting the swine flu.
“Certainly we are understanding of the situation,” Sunderam said. “The university has advised us to recognize that students need to be quarantined, and its better for them not to show up to class.”
Huey said proper rest and nutrition in addition to being aware of the spread of germs are integral to keeping healthy students from contracting the H1N1 virus.
The first reported case for the fall term at the university was the Monday after the freshmen moved into residence halls, Huey said.
“Generally speaking, when an influenza virus comes across a community like a campus community it takes about 8 weeks, so we have a long time to go to get through this,” Huey said.
Huey said the current prediction for vaccines to be released by the federal government at the end of October includes 40 million doses, and the H1N1 vaccine is a two-dose vaccine, so only 20 million people will receive that first batch.
“We’re not going to get to the college group in that first 20 million because there are groups higher on the priority list from the CDC with the current outflow of influenza,” Huey said.
According to the CDC’s Web site, such groups include “pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact, children 6 months through 4 years of age, and children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions.”
Huey said the campus community will need to focus on prevention and treatment of H1N1 with appropriate medications and not rely on the possibility of vaccinations.
Leave a Reply