Health center seeing less than 10 H1N1 cases a day

The initial panic over the new swine flu as quieted.

Since the end of September, the health center has been reporting less than 10 suspected H1N1 cases per day — a significant drop from the beginning of the semester, which peaked at 91 reported cases on Sept. 11.

The total university count since the swine flu panic began in April is 832, Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said.

The university's response has mirrored this change: The University Health Center is no longer on high alert. Its hours have returned to normal, and its waiting rooms no longer crowded with students complaining of flu-like symptoms.

A month ago, the health center was open on Sundays and had its staff working long days to accommodate the large number of students flooding in with what officials said was the novel H1N1 virus.

Though more students than in previous years are still coming into the health center with flu-like symptoms, supervising physician Joy Howard said, the number of students she now sees per day pales in comparison with those of a month earlier.

"We're a little bit busier than we usually are for this time of year," Howard said. "Still, we're holding flu clinics throughout the week, giving out hand sanitizer, and health promotions staff are talking to various groups [about prevention]."

Typically, when flu season begins in early October, cases become more and more prevalent, but the presence of swine flu has contradicted this typical pattern. Howard said swine flu is the reason the university, like many other colleges around the country, have seen such an irregular flu season.

"It's called ‘novel H1N1' because it's a new strain and doesn't follow normal outbreak patterns like seasonal flu," she said. "We still encourage people to get regular flu shots, because we expect a resurgence in the spring semester due to cold weather."

In addition to seasonal flu shots — some were administered en mass at a flu vaccination drill at Ritchie Coliseum last week — the university is also recommending students get swine flu vaccines, which should become available in mid-November, she added.

"Our first H1N1 order will include 300 immunizations — you can only make an order for one month at a time," Howard said. "We don't know how many doses we're going to give out, and we didn't want to get a lot if nobody was going to show up. We'll order more if more people come."

Swine flu inoculations were supposed to be available to the university by mid-October, but the health center ordered pre-filled syringes instead of multi-dose vials, which unexpectedly took more time to manufacture, Clement said.

Freshman computer engineering major Matt Teitelman had flu-like symptoms and tested positive for type-A influenza — the strain that most physicians are considering a clear indicator of swine flu — earlier in September, but said he is still not convinced a swine flu shot is necessary.

"I had swine flu, and it's really not that bad," Teitelman said. "I had a fever and cough that went away in a week, just like the regular flu."

Freshman kinesiology major Joey Parseghian said he had a friend that went home for a couple days with a fever, shivers and a variety of other flu-like symptoms. He added he will probably get a swine flu immunization, but noted the price has to be right.

"My friend was pretty sick," he said. "He went home and had to see the doctor and missed a bunch of classes and stuff, but it's not like I'm going to pay $50 for [a shot]. Everyone's probably going to get it sooner or later."

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