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Vanderbilt Sees 170 Students With Flu-like Illnesses

Flu season is in full swing on campus — more than a month earlier than normal.

The Student Health Center has seen 170 cases of influenza-like illness since Aug. 10 as of Thursday morning, said Dr. Louise Hanson, the medical director of student health services. Student Health sent an e-mail Wednesday informing students of a flu clinic this Sunday from 3-6 p.m. that was established “in response to an increased patient demand” so students who get sick over the weekend don’t have to wait until Monday to be seen.

The number of ILIs has tripled in a week, although Hanson said the uptick in cases is not unusual considering the seasonal flu season got off to an early start and is overlapping with H1N1, the derivative of influenza A commonly referred to as swine flu.

Seasonal and H1N1 influenza cause similar symptoms and are clinically no different, Hanson said, with most infected people recovering within a few days. Those who are more susceptible to complications are people who already know they are high-risk. Students with asthma and diabetes may face possible complications from the flu, for example.

Hanson said the number of ILIs could potentially be capturing any number of infectious diseases that present flu-like symptoms, including bad colds or undiagnosed cases of mono and strep throat, and therefore may be unrepresentative of what is happening in the community.

Although the numbers of flu-like cases have increased, Hanson said it’s hard to know the projection of the path the viruses will take.

“Only time will tell if this will spike and settle down quickly or whether flu season will continue at moderate levels through the whole fall and winter,” Hanson wrote in an e-mail.

Beth Fortune, the vice chancellor for public affairs, has said repeatedly that the university is paying attention, citing among other actions the hand sanitizer added in dorms, classroom buildings and popular gathering spots like Sarratt Student Center and The Commons Center.

“The chancellor and senior leadership team have been fully briefed on the university’s plans and are closely monitoring the situation,” Fortune said last week.

Many professors reiterated to their students the importance of taking care of themselves if they have flu-like symptoms and staying away from the classroom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ask that people with a flu-like illness stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever has gone to help limit the spread of the virus to others.

During the week, students received e-mails from their schools asking them to e-mail their professors if they are going to miss class due to a flu-like illness and also copy their respective dean on the e-mail. Student Health also sent an e-mail to students asking them to call and schedule an appointment if they are ill and giving them advice on preventing the spread of the virus.

Other universities have been hit hard by H1N1, with the University of Nebraska-Omaha recording what is believed to be the first college death this school year related to the virus. The student also had muscular dystrophy, Fox News reported, which made her highly susceptible to complications.

As of Thursday, Mississippi State University was up to nearly 400 probable cases of H1N1, the university’s flu watch Web site reported, and the University of Tennessee had about 100 cases by late last week according to The Associated Press.

The CDC’s region IV, which includes the Southeast, was the only region in the most recent CDC Flu View report that was experiencing elevated numbers of outpatient ILIs, while the rest of the nation reported normal levels. The American College Health Association’s influenza surveillance recorded the same activity, with region IV having 858 cumulative college ILI cases as of the week of Aug. 22. The next closest region was region X, with 236 cases throughout Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

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