H1N1 Hits Campus

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent 900 emergency H1N1 nasal spray vaccines to Bates last Saturday to conduct a mass immunization after six student cultures tested positive for the virus on Thursday, Oct. 8th and over 40 students exhibited influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms in the following days.

“As our Sept. 24 e-mail said, we had seen only nine students at that time with ILI[s], none testing positive for H1N1,” said Dean of Students Tedd Goundie. “We had a little lull, and then over the past week we saw a dozen more, at least half of whom were confirmed with H1N1. We have had three or four more since Thursday.”

A total of 638 of the 900 nasal spray vaccines were administered to students from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10th in Chase Lounge. An e-mail was sent to all students listing vaccination time slots based upon the alphabetical order of students’ last names.

A second Announce e-mail a few hours later rescinded the message of the first, encouraging students to visit the clinic at any time before 2 p.m. on Saturday as the number of students getting inoculated was “not as high as anticipated.”

The Maine CDC will supply Bates with an additional 300 injectable doses this Wednesday, according to Christy Tisdale, Director of the Health Center. These vaccinations will be administered Thursday to those students who were unavailable to receive treatment Saturday or whose medical conditions prevented them from receiving the nasal spray.

“We were very lucky to get the vaccines that we have – it was not expected,” said Goundie. “Oddly, our timing was good – our first confirmed cases coincided with the state receiving some vaccine shipments, so they wanted us to have it right away to see if the spread could be contained through getting as many inoculated as possible, as soon as possible.”

It is essential that as many students as feasible are vaccinated to reduce the risk of the virus spreading, said Tisdale in a Bates College Television interview. “We’re not mandating that anyone get this vaccine, we’re just hoping the majority of students get it, and they probably will.”

The Maine CDC will no longer test student cultures after at least three cases are confirmed, meaning that “any student exhibiting ILI[s] will be presumed to have H1N1,” as stated in an e-mail message distributed Thursday.

ILI symptoms include a fever over 101 degrees, a nasty cough, a soar throat, dehydration and in some cases nausea and vomiting, according to Tisdale. “If students have any of these primary symptoms, we’re assuming they have H1N1.”

This assumption has important implications for the student isolation protocol at Bates set out by the CDC.

The three college-owned isolation houses on Franklin, College and Russell streets have reached capacity since no more than three students are isolated in a house at any given time, said Goundie.

Noah Cohn ’12 was placed in the isolation house located at 85 Franklin Street for four days upon presenting with ILI symptoms on Thursday afternoon. During Cohn’s time in quarantine, three other Bates students were rotated through the house, described by Cohn as comfortable, but with little beyond the bare necessities. Cohn complained of the minimal amount of furniture provided, particularly noting the lack of chairs. “Everyone has been incredibly accommodating,” said Cohn. “Even when food was delivered [to the house], I was given the option of requesting a particular meal.” According to Cohn, the food packages delivered to students in isolation consisted of turkey sandwiches, jello, chicken soup and a generous supply of Gatorade.

“We have begun self-isolation in student dorms as of today,” said Tisdale on Sunday, Oct. 11. “We will e-mail all students Monday and ask them to find an alternative living space in case their roommate gets sick.”

Roommates and friends of students with ILIs will play a crucial role in aiding these students’ recovery, according to Tisdale. “Friends will pick up two pre-packaged meals for them in Commons and Commons will also drop off a package of fluids and soups outside their doors.”

Students in self-isolation will receive daily check-ups, said Tisdale. “We’ll also have a symptom list online that we’ll ask them to check. It tells you that if you have the following symptoms of concern to please call us immediately.”

Symptoms typically last three to five days, with students missing about a week of classes. “H1N1 is a milder case in a lot of respects than the normal seasonal flu that we have seen,” said Tisdale.

Although all colleges and universities within the state are following the same protocol, certain institutions have seen more cases than others. As of Monday, Oct. 12th, 79 Bates students had exhibited ILI symptoms, with at least 40 of those cases occurring in the last week.

As of Thursday, Oct. 8, a reported 182 students at Bowdoin College had met the medical criteria for ILIs since the start of the semester. Of these students, 179 at Bowdoin and 10 at Bates have fully recovered. Half the Bates students with ILIs have gone home, and the rest are in self-isolation, said Tisdale.

3 comments

Tom Abigail

Fri Oct 16 2009 22:08

To all ya player haters out there, H1N1 was not created by pigs, duh. Pigs are not smart enough to create a virus, it was the white man, Just like they created Al Queda and AIDS, the white man is trying to exterminate our race. I say, eradicate the white man. It IS in our best interest.

Your name

Wed Oct 14 2009 18:26

Why not close the school early for break.

123

Tue Oct 13 2009 18:26

well, .... it is still a big problem of concern.

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