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The University of Maine has confirmed seven cases of swine flu on campus since Sept. 21; most of the students with flu have recovered. University officials held a forum on swine flu Tuesday to answer community questions about the H1N1 virus.
As of Tuesday, 39 people have reported flu-like symptoms at UMaine, according to Wayne Maines, director of Safety and Environmental Management. UMaine rescheduled its vaccination clinics for students to Nov. 5 and 6 from Nov. 9 and 10. The clinics are for all age groups, but only students in groups at high risk for swine flu are eligible to sign up for them online. UMaine does not require proof of being part of a high-risk group for participation in the clinic. Kenda Scheele, associate dean of students, said UMaine has a “good number of people signed up.”
“The vaccination is the best way to prevent an outbreak in our community,” Scheele said.
Richard Young, director of the Cutler Health Center, said the university will likely change the vaccination clinics to include non high-risk groups when and if the Maine Center for Disease Control recommends it. Dr. Glenn Rampe, head physician at Cutler, said he hopes to have all campus community members in high-risk groups vaccinated by the end of the week. He said the most time a student would have to wait at Cutler would be an hour but added it was more likely a physician would see him or her immediately. UMaine currently has 1,100 doses of H1N1 vaccine.
Rampe said students who come to Cutler with swine flu symptoms and are members of a high-risk group will be treated immediately, even before testing to confirm they have H1N1, which takes two or three days to verify. Kristen Kuhns, a fourth-year anthropology student with a minor in pre-med, who is writing her thesis on swine flu, asked Rampe to explain the treatment. Rampe said the treatment was anti-flu medication, which he acknowledged can create anti-viral-resistant flu strains.
Carol Nichols, a senior designer from University Relations, asked whether swine flu will arrive in waves during the year — similar to the way the 1918 flu did — and whether the vaccine will be as effective for such a second wave.
“We’re not sure,” said Rampe, who added the vaccine will likely provide a partial immunity. “That’s my guess. I’m not sure.”
Nichols asked whether hand sanitizer, which the university has distributed throughout campus, is as effective at preventing the flu as hand washing. Rampe said it is useful but not as effective as hand washing. He said sanitizer doesn’t work well if your hands are soiled. Ethel Hill, director of the Explorations program, asked whether hand sanitizer can create resistant strains of swine flu.
“It’s a chemical reaction,” said Rampe, who denied sanitizer’s potential to create resistant strains. He said he uses it 25 times every day.
Nichols asked whether Maine and the university could see the same sort of epidemic the country saw in 1918. Rampe said no because of several differences between today and 1918.
“This time we have vaccine,” Rampe said. “By the time the second wave rolls around you’ll have … an immunity.”
Rampe acknowledged no one knows if 1918 will be duplicated, but he added lots of people were malnourished and unhygienic back then.
Scheele urged faculty members not to wait to report symptoms they feel themselves or see in students.
“We’d be happy to make a presentation to any class [about H1N1],” Scheele said.
Joe Carr, director of University Relations, said it’s important students pay attention to the information UMaine sends to the community.
“We’re not going to send something unless there’s a reason,” Carr said.
Kuhns said most of the students she has talked to for her thesis were unaware of the online self-reporting system.
Scheele said the university has trained residence assistants to deal with students who express symptoms to them.
Hill said she has heard of students who have reported symptoms who are not being quarantined or tested and who occasionally stay in other residents’ rooms for various reasons.
“That may be the case in some situations. I don’t know,” Young said.
Young said the university advocates flu-contracted students be quarantined and sign up online to receive special meal deliveries to their room — which can be picked up by a friend or delivered by campus staff. Young said students who fear they may have swine flu can talk to Residence Life staff in addition to RAs and Cutler officials.
