Re: Delaware- CDC Experts called to UD
CDC experts called to UD after swine flu confirmed Four have H1N1, 12 others are being tested; Markell hails response By ANGIE BASIOUNY ? The News Journal ?
May 1, 2009
Four cases of swine flu at the University of Delaware were confirmed Thursday, while the number of suspected cases rose to 12. A small team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was set to arrive in the state Thursday night at the invitation of Gov. Jack Markell, who said he requested the team to assist a group from the Division of Public Health, Christiana Care and the university. He also repeated his message urging residents to remain calm and cautious. "We're not taking drastic measures because the medical professionals are basically saying that taking drastic measures would be a mistake," Markell said. "They believe we've been on the right page." The state has not moved to shut down the University of Delaware campus because state and federal health experts have not recommended it. University officials are asking sick students to limit their contact with others, though they are not requiring those living in dormitories to return home. Numerous public events have been canceled -- from theater and sports events to a Greek party and professors' dinner -- to minimize the mix of people on campus. "We have not discussed the possibility of closing at this point. We're taking it on a day-by-day basis," said David Brond, vice president of external relations for UD. "We're continuing to encourage students to visit the health centers. Our goal is to evaluate students." Off campus, Iron Hill Brewery, a popular Main Street gathering spot, closed Thursday afternoon amid swine flu concerns and planned to reopen at 3 p.m. today. Kevin Finn, president of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, said in a statement that he decided to close because some of the restaurant's employees are UD students. "None of our employees are the students with confirmed swine flu cases, however, as a precautionary measure, we [felt it was] in the best interest of public health to close for business until we received more information about the situation. This allowed us to make sure all of our staff is healthy and showing no flu symptoms before reopening," he said. The four confirmed cases and 12 suspected cases are students who were experiencing flu-like symptoms and went voluntarily to either the university's health center or an additional campus clinic set up Wednesday by the Division of Public Health. Advertisement Officials said they still are investigating how the 12 students may have contracted swine flu -- whether they came into contact with one another or someone else who was infected. They do not believe the students know each other, and only one reported having contact with someone who recently traveled to Mexico. All the students are taking the antiviral medication Tamiflu, officials said. The four confirmed patients have mostly recovered and are no longer considered infectious, said Dr. Herman Ellis, medical director for the Division of Public Health. The 12 students with suspected cases of swine flu also are exhibiting mild symptoms, another reason not to hit the panic button, he said. It should be reassuring, he said, that even the sick students felt well enough to go to the health centers for evaluation. "Normally, when you have symptoms of the flu, it hits you very hard," Ellis said. "You're prostrate for a period of time and it's very difficult to get out of the house." Now, any student with flu-like symptoms will be treated as a possible case of swine flu, state officials said. Markell said he called CDC Director Richard Besser on Thursday morning and asked for a team because of the agency's expertise in dealing with fast-spreading infections. He said Besser was "delighted" to get the call because a campus setting will give the team a chance to learn more about the virus. "They are coming in with a fresh set of eyes and the advantage of having the sense of what's going on all over the world," Markell said. "We have a great team, but once the cases looked like they were going to be confirmed, we thought it would be important to reach out to the best experts in the world." CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant said it is not uncommon for states to request help in investigating viral infections or illnesses. The agency currently has teams in California, Texas, New York City and Mexico -- all places with confirmed cases of swine flu. The CDC is in the locations at the request of those local governments. The federal team likely will consist of a medical officer, epidemiologist and a support staffer, Grant said. They will provide technical assistance to Delaware's team in whatever way the state chooses. That could mean researching medical records, speaking with patients and family members, building a history of events leading to exposure or evaluating a patient's status, Grant said. The CDC will make recommendations from its findings, but the state must decide whether to implement any recommendations. "We're not an enforcement-type agency," Grant said. "So we don't have the authority to say 'you will quarantine' unless we're dealing with something deemed a national emergency. And that authority would be at the level of the White House." State health experts said the global worry over swine flu is high because the strain is new enough to be somewhat mysterious to medical researchers. They also want the public to keep the news in perspective because hundreds of thousands of people worldwide die from typical influenza each year. "One of the concerns about swine flu is that this would be a new strain to North America, so there is no immunity that exists in the general population," said Dr. James Newman, chief medical officer for Christiana Care. "We need to keep a very careful watch."
