As flu spreads, students scramble

Even though sophomore letters and sciences major Julie Peak disinfected her phone, keyboard and door knob, it still wasn't enough to prevent her from contracting the flu bug from her roommate.

In a university environment, contagious diseases can spread like wildfire due to close quarters and a constant sharing of food, drinks, remote controls, computers, cameras, clothes and other items. But the new swine flu has proven to be even more contagious than the seasonal flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no vaccine available yet —the World Health Organization predicts one will be ready by late October — so students concerned for their health are left to disinfect and hope for the best.

Like more than 400 other students on the campus, Peak contracted what might be swine flu from someone she came in close contact with, such as her roommate.

After coming back from a camping trip in western Maryland two weeks ago, Peak's roommate, sophomore biology major Carina Song, began to show flu-like symptoms — sore throat, body aches and a fever.

"I came back from the trip on Monday and had the chills, but I wasn't that sick yet," Song said. "Walking to class on Tuesday I started shivering uncontrollably, so then I walked back to my dorm and took my temperature. I had a 101-degree fever."

After Peak discovered her roommate was sick she began to clean everything she could think of in their LaPlata double.

"I immediately began spraying everything in the room with Lysol spray," Peak said. "I even sprayed Lysol in the air — not like that was going to do anything."

That evening Peak received a text from her roommate saying that Song tested positive at a Kaiser Permanente medical center for flu-type A, which most doctors are assuming to be H1N1.

The next day Peak's throat began to ache. She knew what that probably meant, she said, and quarantined herself in her dorm room.

"I was never tested," Peak said. "But when I went to the University Health Center they said my flu-like symptoms most likely indicate I have swine flu, because it's not [seasonal] flu season yet. Also, my roommate had already tested positive, which means it was even more likely I had it."

This past weekend, the university released an H1N1 case estimate of 435, but the count is solely based on the number of students who come into the health center complaining of flu-like symptoms and test positive for the type A virus — there could be more or less actual H1N1 cases, said Kelly Kesler, assistant director of Health Promotion at the health center.

Roommates should practice the same good health and hygiene that everyone should be employing, including not sneezing into your hands, washing your hands and not touching your nose, Kesler said.

But classes, parties and other everyday activities put students at risk for spreading germs, and often, they don't even think about it.

Sophomore biology major David Accame, a close friend of both Song and Peak, attended a party early this semester with two friends. Two days later all three students were showing signs and symptoms of the flu — sneezing, headaches and stuffy noses.

Less than a week later, Accame had a 103-degree fever. One of Accame's roommate, sophomore biology major Will Aisenberg also got sick. The following weekend, Aisenberg was sharing a tent with Song on the camping trip.

While both Accame and Aisenberg were away, their other roommate, sophomore marketing major Eric Brown, quarantined himself in their Cumberland triple and sprayed sanitizer all over his roommates' stuff. After developing a sore throat, headache and stomach ache, Brown drank a carton of orange juice, slept and only opened the door to receive Diner food from two friends he had asked to deliver it for him.

"I literally sprayed disinfectant on everything," Brown said. "All over David's bed, pillow and desk, the closet door, door knobs — everything."

After being sick for about a week each, the students said they are  now more conscious about how quickly germs can spread on a college campus.

"I don't think that you should worry for your life," Song said. "It's just the flu. I am, however, a little more cautious now about sitting next to people that are sneezing and make sure I sneeze onto my sleeve, not on my hand."

botelho@umdbk.com