Back to School raises H1N1 awareness 8/25/2009 11:29 AM By: Bonnie Gonzalez
At Texas Christian University, in North Texas, at least 10 students have been identified as carrying the virus.
Students are returning back to school and some are bringing the H1N1 flu virus with them.
At Texas Christian University, in North Texas, at least 10 students have been identified as carrying the virus.
However some students said they were not worried about it.
"When one person dies, then everyone gets freaked out," Baylor student, Daniel Lynch, said.
Precautions
To prevent the spread of the flu, health officials are urging people to take some simple precautions. • Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. • Wash your hands often. • If you're sick, stay home and don't take public transportation. • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
"Obviously if someone's showing flu-like symptoms I'm not going to go hang out with them or share something with them," University of Texas student, Noah Levy, said. "I'm not too concerned. I think there are a lot of other things I need to be more concerned with than swine flu."
The potential of the virus does have other students concerned for their health.
Baylor student, Amber Flack, learned one of her professors had the virus over the summer and that alone was enough to make her nervous.
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H1N1 News 8's Bonnie Gonzalez shows us what universities around the state are doing, to prepare for a possible
H1N1 outbreak.
"My professor yesterday actually said she got swine flu while she was in another country and she her daughter were recovering from it so it kind of made me a little nervous to know somebody had it and she was that close to me in the room," Flack said.
Health care officials like Dr. Sharon Stern, who works for Baylor University Medical Center, said recent cases like the 10 at TCU don't raise alarm.
"It's not surprising to anyone who's been working in medicine. It's not a surprise to anybody," Dr. Stern said.
Stern said the young adult age group is more susceptible to contracting the H1N1 virus. The good news is the illness is not usually severe.
Health Organizations
2009 H1N1 Flu information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
"The young people that get it that are healthy for the most part have mild cases and recover very quickly." Stern said
But that is no reason for people to let their guards down. Stern said it's important to be prepared to prevent the virus from spreading around each different campus.
"We have ordered extra influenza vaccines both seasonal and H1N1 which we'll be ordering when it becomes available." Stern said.
According to Stern, thermometers were put in every dorm to help students monitor their health. Also, the school is still writing up a plan of action should an outbreak occur. The University of Texas is also planning in case an outbreak happens.
"We have looked at the worst case option. If we had to close down, how would we do that?" UT Austin VP for Campus Safety & Security, Bob Harkins, said. "We've asked people to identify key and essential people that are needed to do functions of the university to keep it functional.''
Stern said the young adult age group is more susceptible to contracting the H1N1 virus.
Harkins doesn't believe it'll come to that, but while college health officials are doing their part across the state to keep students safe, students are urged to do their part as well.
"Wash hands, stay away from sick people," Harkins said, encouraging young people to carry on with their normal lives.
"I mean I still wash my hands and stuff all the time. I'm kind of a germ-a-phoebe when it comes to that but really nothing different. I'm just kind of living my life," Flack said.
Baylor students started their fall semester on Monday. Stern said there haven't been any suspected H1N1 cases so far other than two cases over the summer. University of Texas classes begin on Wednesday.
Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A total of 7,983 hospitalizations and 522 deaths associated with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) viruses have been reported to CDC.
During the week of Aug. 9-15, influenza activity remained stable in the United States; however, there were still higher levels of influenza-like illness than is normal for this time of year:
• 525 (15.6%) specimens tested by U.S. World Health Organization (WHO) and National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) collaborating laboratories and reported to CDC/Influenza Division were positive for influenza. • 98% of all subtyped influenza A viruses being reported to CDC were 2009 influenza A (H1N1) viruses. • The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was below the epidemic threshold. • Four influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported and all were associated with a 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. • The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) was below national and region-specific baseline levels. • Two states reported geographically widespread influenza activity, eight states and Puerto Rico reported regional influenza activity, 14 states and the District of Columbia reported local influenza activity, and 26 states reported sporadic influenza activity.
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