Officials at Washington State University have reported one of the largest outbreaks of swine flu on a U.S. college campus after some 2,000 students showed symptoms of the virus, AFP reported.
Tests at a state laboratory last week confirmed that the influenza outbreak at Washington State University (WSU) is indeed caused by H1N1 Influenza, according to officials at Washington state’s Whitman County, where the school is located.
A new university-endorsed blog was started to provide information to students about the sudden and dramatic spread of the A(H1N1) virus on campus just days into the new school term.
The latest online posting said the school estimates it had been in contact with about 2,000 students with influenza-like illness in the first 10 days of the fall semester.
School officials said they typically only see a handful of patients with influenza-like illness during this time of year.
“Health care providers in the local community have also seen WSU students with influenza-like illness, but we have no way of knowing how many. We also have no way of estimating how many students are self-caring at home without contacting us,” the blog update said.
The county health department asked university officials to track numbers in order to give them a better idea of how many students at WSU actually have influenza-like illness.
The school is following guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in advising students how to avoid catching and spreading H1N1.
“Health officials are reporting an unusual number of flu cases so far this school year,” said CDC director Thomas Frieden.
He told CNN television on Sunday that they were seeing a fair amount of influenza with schools back in session, particularly in the southeast of the U.S., but also in many parts of the country.
“That’s very unusual for this time of the year,” he said. “This is really something we haven’t seen before.”
Frieden said it is very unusual to see flu continue to occur over the summer and to see it start to increase this rapidly in August and September.
Efforts to contain the virus may be hampered by layoffs and furloughs of public health workers during the current economic crisis, as well as the inherent unpredictability of any infectious malady, Frieden added.
However, he noted that swine flu was the one they were most concerned about.
“Because if it does become more deadly, it could cause a very severe scenario. It could cause lots of problems for health for people going to school and learning, going to work and earning,” he said.
WSU, which has about 19,000 students enrolled, has begun handing out flu self-care kits.
University officials said two hundred of those kits have already been distributed with 1,000 more in process, and none of the cases of swine flu so far has required hospitalization.
The university said the overwhelming majority of its patients have had mild symptoms and are usually better in three to five days and that none of the WSU cases have been fatal.
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