As classes resumed this week, Carnegie Mellon University began wrestling with a possible outbreak of a flu bug federal officials warned all summer would rapidly spread through college campuses with the return of students.
At least 26 students at the Oakland university have flulike illnesses consistent with the symptoms of H1N1, or swine flu, an influenza strain that emerged in spring and swept the globe, said Anita Barkin, director of Student Health Services.
She sent an e-mail Monday evening to Carnegie Mellon students and employees informing them of the sick students. The e-mail made its rounds to other Western Pennsylvania universities that are opening this week and next.
"When I got that e-mail, I almost fell out of my chair," said Keith Paylo, dean of student affairs at Point Park University, Downtown. "Their students just moved in."
The students comprise less than 0.3 percent of Carnegie Mellon's 10,000 students. The majority are freshmen living in dormitories, and none was sick enough to require hospitalization.
The university didn't notify the Allegheny County Health Department about a swine flu outbreak, nor did any other college, spokesman Guillermo Cole said. The department stopped tracking individual cases, and the state Department of Health no longer tests for potential swine flu in most otherwise healthy people.
Swine flu is especially infectious among people younger than 50 because their immune systems never encountered a similar virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It could infect as much as half the U.S. population, potentially killing up to 90,000 Americans, according to a report released Monday by the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.
Last week, the departments of Health and Human Services and of Education released swine flu guidelines to help colleges prepare for the return of students living in close quarters, a situation that makes it easier for viruses to spread. The guidelines reiterated common-sense precautions, such as frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes and encouraging students and staff with flu-like illnesses not to come to class until 24 hours after all symptoms abate.
The guidelines say colleges should send home students whose parents live nearby and try to find rooms separate from other people for students who can't leave campus. Some colleges across the country asked faculty to rethink absence policies and consider online lessons. Others suggested students have a plan to go home, or hunker down in dorm rooms with medicines, tissues and hand sanitizer if they get sick.
Barkin said Carnegie Mellon's ill students will remain in isolation until they are fever-free for 24 hours. The university is working with a temporary employment service to get nurses and, weather permitting, will hold activities outdoors to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
Students began moving into University of Pittsburgh dorms Tuesday, and none reported flu symptoms, said Jay Frerotte, director of environmental health and safety at Pitt.
"We're following CDC guidance and putting out a lot of information about how to stay healthy, how to prevent getting the flu," he said.
A team that met biweekly over the summer to prepare for the flu talked with the county Health Department about getting swine flu vaccine, which is expected to be available in mid-October, Frerotte said. Officials encourage students to get the seasonal flu shot when it becomes available in September.
The Community College of Allegheny County is working on a plan to keep sick employees and students away from campus while helping them stay up to date in work and classes, spokesman David Hoovler said.
"On the administrative side, if people can access e-mail or voicemail, that would be one way that they could work from home," he said. "Something being discussed right now is ways that professors could work with students in case the students or the professor winds up getting sick."
St. Vincent College in Latrobe drafted statements to be placed on class syllabuses to inform students that if they stay home with the flu, they will not be penalized and will be allowed to make up course work.
Students moving into Carlow University dorms yesterday received hand sanitizer, thermometers and instructions on how to avoid the flu, along with other orientation materials, said Mary Fran Reidell, director of health services.
Similar materials were given to Point Park University students who are moving in this week, Paylo said.
"It's a gentle reminder that, hey, this is serious," he said. "We don't want this to be widespread."
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