New cases continue to be reported around the country as the disease spreads and fall season settles in.

A vaccine is expected to be ready for distribution sometime in October, but school officials emphasize that students can take precautions in the meantime to avoid infection. The University has formed a taskforce to monitor the campus situation and stay up to date with information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although still below the epidemic threshold, the virus’s proliferation is being kept on a close watch by the CDC and state health agencies.

Read more about the swine flu at Wash. U.

About the vaccine

·The seasonal flu vaccine is not effective against the H1N1 virus.

·Clinical tests were carried out at several colleges in July, including Saint Louis University.

·40 million doses will be available by mid-October.

·10 million to 20 million doses can be produced per week.

·The H1N1 vaccine has a similar safety profile to that of the seasonal vaccine.

·Side effects may include swelling, headache, fever and nausea, though the CDC expects side effects and allergic reactions to be rare.

·People with severe allergies to chicken eggs or other substances used in the vaccine should not be vaccinated.

·Multiple formulations of the vaccine are being produced. Some formulations require two doses, while others require just one to be effective.

Swine flu on college campuses

The American College Health Association tracks cases at participating colleges for a total population of 3.1 million students.

Total new cases over a one-week period*: 7,696
Cases by states in the region:

Missouri: 369

Illinois: 119

Kentucky: 96

Tennessee: 244

Total cases: 21,130
Total cases by states in the region:

Missouri: 774

Illinois: 246

Kentucky: 222

Tennessee: 882

*Data are for the week ending Sept. 18, the most recent data available.

FAQ

Q: What are the most commonly reported symptoms?

A: Cough, sore throat, aches, fatigue and fever.

Q: Who should get vaccinated?

A: The CDC recommends vaccination for pregnant women, people caring for or living with children younger than 6 months, emergency medical personnel, people ages 6 months to 4 years and children 5 to 18 years old with chronic medical conditions.

The CDC recommends vaccination for other groups after high-risk populations have been vaccinated. People 19 to 24 years of age will also be targeted since they are mobile and often live and work in close proximity to one another.

Q: What should a person do if he or she becomes ill?

A: According to the CDC Web site, “people with influenza-like illness [should] remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever—100 degrees Fahrenheight (37.8 degrees Celsius)—or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.”

Q: How can someone avoid contracting swine flu?

A: Basic hygiene practices such as hand washing, with either soap and water or alcohol-based hand cleaner, and not touching the face, mouth or eyes are the best ways to prevent infection.

Q: Who is at risk for complications from H1N1?

A: Pregnant women and patients with cardiovascular disease are at higher risk for complications.

Swine flu essentials

The first reported case was in Mexico as a respiratory illness of unknown origin.

The first cases in the United States appeared in April 2009. Early lab tests of the virus indicated that some of the genes were similar to a those of a strain of influenza that infects pigs. The virus, however, differs greatly from strains that infect pigs. The virus also has genes that are similar to those in strains that infect birds and humans.

The World Health Organization announced on June 11 that a global pandemic of H1N1 flu was occurring.

Most countries had reported cases by the end of July.

The virus can be spread person to person.

The majority of reported influenza cases from the past several weeks are of the H1N1 type.

The percentages of deaths due to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) are below the epidemic threshold.

The CDC publishes a weekly report about new cases, deaths and distribution of H1N1 flu available at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/.

H1N1 has not shown resistance to antiviral medication commonly used to treat influenza except in very rare cases.

Response and containment

The CDC developed a test kit to identify new cases at the start of the outbreak and began distributing it in May.

The CDC distributed a quarter of the pandemic flu supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile to fight the virus, including antiviral drugs and personal protective equipment.

The CDC recommends that students who are infected recover at home and isolate themselves, if possible.

The CDC does not recommend canceling classes or events due to the swine flu unless it becomes severe.

The University formed the Emerging Infectious Disease Task Force, headed by Glass, last spring to monitor the situation.

For up-to-date information on the swine flu watch at the University, visit http://wustl.edu/flu/.

The tracker, which uses reports issued voluntarily by officials from universities, relies on the contribution of more than 250 schools and is being used by public-health officials. The purpose of the tracker is to provide information to health authorities.

“ACHA is trying to determine the impact of ILI [influenza-like illness] on colleges,” said E. Victor Leino, research director of the American College Health Association (ACHA). “This information is also being shared with the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. If the incidence is high, this will impact CDC decisions regarding recommendations of who should get the vaccine and when.”

The system has a considerable amount of benefits, according to Leino.

“It is data that the CDC can use as well as providing state-by-state estimates so campuses can prepare,” he said.

In addition, local public health authorities can put the information to use.

“It [the tracking system] can be used with other case data from the CDC and local and regional public health departments to track the spread of pandemic H1N1,” said Alan Glass, director of Student Health Services (SHS) at Washington University and president-elect of the ACHA.

Information from the 165 universities has proven to be useful but is representative of only a small portion of the United States’ 15.9 million college students and 4,000 two-year and four-year institutions.

“Participation is voluntary, so there are potential sampling issues, and the data are self-reported, so there are potential issues with accuracy,” Glass said.

One study in August displayed 1,640 reported cases, which were reported by only 55 percent of the 165 schools that participated in the study.

Most cases at universities have been mild. But there have been rare instances in which students have had to be hospitalized. One student at Cornell University died after contracting the swine flu.

The highest rates of swine flu incidence have been in the Southeast and Northwest, particularly Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state.

Missouri has an average amount of H1N1 incidence, Glass said.

“The cumulative report data places Missouri about in the middle related to attack rates,” Glass said.

As of Sept. 11 and since the launch of the tracker, Region VII—which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska—has had a total of 447 cases. In Missouri alone, there have been 405 reported cases and an incidence of approximately 44.6 people out of every 10,000.

Just in the week ending Sept. 11, there were 311 new cases of flu—293 of which were in Missouri. This represented a 214 percent increase in the incidence of flu in Missouri when compared to a week before.

Most schools, including the University, provide tracking information on a weekly basis.

“Over 80 percent of the 300-plus schools signed on are reporting weekly,” Leino said. “The CDC is watching as well. It seems to be well-received.”

In addition, the University’s Emerging Disease Task Force has been monitoring the Web site and is aware of the most recent data provided by the tracker.

As of Saturday, SHS had confirmed 11 cases of the swine flu on campus. All of them were mild cases.

The tracker serves a wide variety of people, according to Glass.

“The tracking system is supposed to serve anyone who is interested in the impact of novel H1N1 on institutes of higher education,” he said. “This would include students, administrators, public-health authorities, as well as others.”
Students reacted  favorably to the creation of the ACHA’s influenza tracking system.

“The tracking system will be a good resource,” sophomore Sarah Michaels said. “It will be interesting to see how slowly or quickly the illness spreads.”

The tracking system serves as a reminder of the growing presence of swine flu on college campuses.

“It [the tracking system] will help you a little bit to know how cautious you will need to be,” Michaels said.

Anyone interested in reading the cumulative tracking data can access it at http://www.acha.org/ILI_Cumulative.cfm.