Tweet
Flu cases showing up on state campuses
By Mike Hasten ?
September 4, 2009
BATON ROUGE ?
Louisiana?s college campuses are keeping close watch for a serious outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as swine flu, and are taking steps to avoid it.
Hundreds of suspected and confirmed cases already have been reported in the first few weeks of class. No cases have been reported at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, but classes haven?t started there yet.
At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Bobby Jindal said health officials all across the state have been meeting and preparing for an outbreak. His Unified Command Group ? a collection of agency heads affected by an event or disaster ? met with the governor to brief him on steps they?re taking.
Jindal said that with new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, it would take a serious outbreak among students and faculty to close a school.
Campuses are taking steps to fight the disease with stepped-up cleaning of shared spaces and encouraging students who don?t feel well to stay home or in their dorm rooms. Some students are delivering meals to their sick friends, and campus clinics are staying open longer.
?When it comes to closures, we would have to consider those on a case-by-case basis,? Jindal said. ?The exception would be if you had a school with a concentration of at-risk students or a facility where the majority of your staff was incapacitated.?
Sally Clausen, commissioner of higher education, said in some cases ?healthy students are taking notes and assignments to students who are absent. They?re using Facebook, Twitter and other ways to get the information to students who are sick.?
While students can be excused from class if they?re sick, they?re not excused from doing the work, she said.
Health officials recommend inoculations for college students because the close contact of campus increases the possibility of widespread transmission. And because the regular seasonal flu and H1N1 require different vaccines, both types are recommended.
Clausen said LSU?s Baton Rouge campus took an innovative path toward getting students to receive seasonal flu shots.
?The university invited students for pizza, and as they stood in line to get pizza, they got shots,? she said. ?I understand students are asking when they?ll have pizza and shots night again.?
Kristine Calongne of LSU said the last official count of flu cases was 112 as of Aug. 22, a cumulative number since early August, but most are well by now. Also, those are only the students who went to the Student Health Center, not their family doctors.
LSU-Shreveport reported four cases, three from two weeks ago and a new case Thursday.
The University of Louisiana System reported that 108 suspected H1N1 cases had been found at its eight campuses around the state.
System spokeswoman Jackie Tisdell said the CDC informed the schools to treat every case as though it were H1N1. The symptoms are identical to the common seasonal flu.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette leads the system with 36 students having flu symptoms. Northwestern State University in Natchitoches reported one confirmed H1N1 case and 29 students with flu symptoms.
Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond reported 23 flu-like cases, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, 13 and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, six.
No cases were reported by Grambling State University, Tisdell said.
At the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge, Shirley Wade, clinical administrator of Student Health Services said three students complained of flu-like symptoms. However, there has been no confirmed case of H1N1.
Two of the three students live off campus. They were tested and treated on campus and asked to remain at their separate residences until classes resume on Tuesday after Labor Day. Their roommates were tested for flu but no symptoms were found.
The third student was treated and self-isolated. He has been symptom-free long enough to be allowed to return to classes, Wade said.
Kizzy Payton, communication director for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System said its campuses have 12 confirmed or suspected cases of H1N1 and two confirmations as seasonal flu only.
All of the cases reported are at New Orleans community colleges.
By Mike Hasten ?
September 4, 2009
BATON ROUGE ?
Louisiana?s college campuses are keeping close watch for a serious outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as swine flu, and are taking steps to avoid it.
Hundreds of suspected and confirmed cases already have been reported in the first few weeks of class. No cases have been reported at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, but classes haven?t started there yet.
At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Bobby Jindal said health officials all across the state have been meeting and preparing for an outbreak. His Unified Command Group ? a collection of agency heads affected by an event or disaster ? met with the governor to brief him on steps they?re taking.
Jindal said that with new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, it would take a serious outbreak among students and faculty to close a school.
Campuses are taking steps to fight the disease with stepped-up cleaning of shared spaces and encouraging students who don?t feel well to stay home or in their dorm rooms. Some students are delivering meals to their sick friends, and campus clinics are staying open longer.
?When it comes to closures, we would have to consider those on a case-by-case basis,? Jindal said. ?The exception would be if you had a school with a concentration of at-risk students or a facility where the majority of your staff was incapacitated.?
Sally Clausen, commissioner of higher education, said in some cases ?healthy students are taking notes and assignments to students who are absent. They?re using Facebook, Twitter and other ways to get the information to students who are sick.?
While students can be excused from class if they?re sick, they?re not excused from doing the work, she said.
Health officials recommend inoculations for college students because the close contact of campus increases the possibility of widespread transmission. And because the regular seasonal flu and H1N1 require different vaccines, both types are recommended.
Clausen said LSU?s Baton Rouge campus took an innovative path toward getting students to receive seasonal flu shots.
?The university invited students for pizza, and as they stood in line to get pizza, they got shots,? she said. ?I understand students are asking when they?ll have pizza and shots night again.?
Kristine Calongne of LSU said the last official count of flu cases was 112 as of Aug. 22, a cumulative number since early August, but most are well by now. Also, those are only the students who went to the Student Health Center, not their family doctors.
LSU-Shreveport reported four cases, three from two weeks ago and a new case Thursday.
The University of Louisiana System reported that 108 suspected H1N1 cases had been found at its eight campuses around the state.
System spokeswoman Jackie Tisdell said the CDC informed the schools to treat every case as though it were H1N1. The symptoms are identical to the common seasonal flu.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette leads the system with 36 students having flu symptoms. Northwestern State University in Natchitoches reported one confirmed H1N1 case and 29 students with flu symptoms.
Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond reported 23 flu-like cases, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, 13 and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, six.
No cases were reported by Grambling State University, Tisdell said.
At the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge, Shirley Wade, clinical administrator of Student Health Services said three students complained of flu-like symptoms. However, there has been no confirmed case of H1N1.
Two of the three students live off campus. They were tested and treated on campus and asked to remain at their separate residences until classes resume on Tuesday after Labor Day. Their roommates were tested for flu but no symptoms were found.
The third student was treated and self-isolated. He has been symptom-free long enough to be allowed to return to classes, Wade said.
Kizzy Payton, communication director for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System said its campuses have 12 confirmed or suspected cases of H1N1 and two confirmations as seasonal flu only.
All of the cases reported are at New Orleans community colleges.
