Flu expected on campus
Michael Brophy
Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: News
"Right now, we're waiting for the shoe to drop," Dr. Paul Berkner, of the Garrison-Foster Health Center said about the status of the H1N1 virus (commonly referred to as Swine Flu). As of Friday, September 11, Dr. Berkner confidently declared that no one on Mayflower Hill had been diagnosed with H1N1 thus far.
However, this statement is somewhat misleading, as the health center does not actually test for H1N1 because the tests results take seven to 10 days to come back, and at that point the patient will most likely have recovered. Several students have, however, been diagnosed with Influenza-Like Illness (ILI). ILI patients suffer from the same symptoms as H1N1 patients, but their cases cannot be confirmed as H1N1 due to the health centers no-testing policy.
As of right now, the College is by no means in an epidemic, but rather at a crossroads. Once there are two or three cases of H1N1 on campus, there are two paths the virus can take, Dr. Berkner said. The first, and optimal, situation, is that infected students do not infect others, and the virus goes away. The alternative, which is much more likely, is that infected students do spread the virus, and within a few days the one or two cases will have multiplied into 15 to 20, and H1N1 will officially be "on campus."
Dr. Berkner expected Loudness to mark the proverbial "shoe drop"-the fuse that will ignite the powder keg of infection. Activities like kissing and drinking games that involve sharing cups, two common and adored activities among college students, are two of the easiest ways to spread the disease.
College campuses like Colby's are particularly susceptible to high infection rates for two reasons. The first is that the student population falls right in the middle of the age group (ages fifteen to twenty five), which is at the highest risk of contraction.
Secondly, the H1N1 virus, like most communicable diseases, spreads much more rapidly in a residential setting like Colby. In a normal household setting, there is an 18-20 percent transmission rate (that is to say, if you live in a house with six people and one has H1N1, it is very likely that one of the remaining five people will also contract the illness). The virus is significantly more contagious in a residential setting however, with an infection rate of more than 30 percent, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, this statement is somewhat misleading, as the health center does not actually test for H1N1 because the tests results take seven to 10 days to come back, and at that point the patient will most likely have recovered. Several students have, however, been diagnosed with Influenza-Like Illness (ILI). ILI patients suffer from the same symptoms as H1N1 patients, but their cases cannot be confirmed as H1N1 due to the health centers no-testing policy.
As of right now, the College is by no means in an epidemic, but rather at a crossroads. Once there are two or three cases of H1N1 on campus, there are two paths the virus can take, Dr. Berkner said. The first, and optimal, situation, is that infected students do not infect others, and the virus goes away. The alternative, which is much more likely, is that infected students do spread the virus, and within a few days the one or two cases will have multiplied into 15 to 20, and H1N1 will officially be "on campus."
Dr. Berkner expected Loudness to mark the proverbial "shoe drop"-the fuse that will ignite the powder keg of infection. Activities like kissing and drinking games that involve sharing cups, two common and adored activities among college students, are two of the easiest ways to spread the disease.
College campuses like Colby's are particularly susceptible to high infection rates for two reasons. The first is that the student population falls right in the middle of the age group (ages fifteen to twenty five), which is at the highest risk of contraction.
Secondly, the H1N1 virus, like most communicable diseases, spreads much more rapidly in a residential setting like Colby. In a normal household setting, there is an 18-20 percent transmission rate (that is to say, if you live in a house with six people and one has H1N1, it is very likely that one of the remaining five people will also contract the illness). The virus is significantly more contagious in a residential setting however, with an infection rate of more than 30 percent, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Be the first to comment on this story