Two new cases of swine flu reported on campus Wednesday afternoon

Two new cases of swine flu were  reported on campus Wednesday afternoon.

Tests completed at Student Health Services (SHS) concluded that the students have  influenza A. Almost all of the influenza A virus currently circulating is thought to be novel H1N1 influenza, the virus responsible for swine flu.

This brings the University’s total cases of presumed swine flu up to three.

A Washington University undergraduate who displayed flu-like symptoms was thought to have the campus’s first case of swine flu late Tuesday evening.

According to Alan Glass, assistant vice chancellor and director for the Habif Health and Wellness Center, this first isolated instance was likely just the first in an upcoming wave of cases.

“I suspect that we will see more in the next days and weeks,” Glass wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

He wrote that these cases are not unexpected since ‘this virus has been affecting college and university students nationally with some frequency.’

All three student are reportedly  “moderately ill but doing fine”

The students are in self-isolation following University flu protocol, which is based on recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of Wednesday, Glass wrote that the first diagnosed student “remains ill but was doing better today.”

As a preparatory measure, the University appointed an Emerging Infectious Disease Task Force last spring when the swine flu epidemic first hit. The task force is headed by Glass.

Students who are diagnosed with the flu are asked to isolate themselves. The University requests that affected students remain in their living spaces until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.

Although this is the University’s first suspected swine flu case, in late June, the CDC released a statement saying that there might have been at least 1 million cases of swine flu within the United States, most of them undiagnosed or unreported.

The symptoms of swine flu include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches and headache. Some people with novel H1N1 flu have also reported vomiting and diarrhea. The University encourages those who experience these symptoms to contact Student Health Services at 314-935-6666.

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