Students wait in line for the H1N1 vaccine on Friday

When we reported on H1N1 cases at Georgetown in late September, the virus had infected about 250 students and the number of cases was rising precipitously every day. Infection rates have since dropped off. According to an e-mail from Dr. James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health, in the past four weeks, the number of students with Influenza-like Illnesses has dropped to about 35 per week.

Welsh wrote that so far, about 600 students have consulted the Student Health Center with H1N1 symptoms, with cases peaking throughout the month of September. (A report from the President’s Office had expected cases to peak in October).

“There continues to be however, significant signs of illness and we remained concerned about further spread within the GU community,” Welsh wrote.

As Sommer wrote in September, since that number does not include students who were sick but did not seek treatment or advice, that number is likely higher.

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250 of these guys running around campus

As of Monday, Georgetown has had around 250 cases of H1N1, or swine flu, according to an e-mail from Dr. James Welsh, Assistant Vice President for Student Health. Last Tuesday, Georgetown’s estimate was around 150, so the number has risen by 100 in 6 days.

Welsh’s estimates come from students who went to the Student Health Center with flu symptoms, students who called the H1N1 hotline or the Health Center’s doctor-on-call, and students  who went to the hospital’s emergency room.

Since the number doesn’t include students who were sick but never called the hotline or received treatment, the actual number of Georgetown students sick with H1N1 is most likely higher.

For avid swine flu watchers, check out the American College Health Association’s weekly updates on H1N1 at colleges. Georgetown and other universities submit their numbers every Monday, so it’s the place to be to monitor the flu’s spread District- or nationwide.

Swine Flu: Scourge of college coeds everywhere

As you’ve surely noticed from your hacking, sniffly friends and classmates, H1N1 has hit Georgetown.  But we’re not the only ones: a virulent H1N1 strain has spread rapidly through several D.C. college campuses, according to the Washington Post.  UMD College Park, for one, has already reported 435 cases of flu-like illness.

With students sharing living space, classrooms, and red solo cups, H1N1 has the potential to spread widely on campus, according to the Post:

Swine flu appears to have spread to most of the country’s colleges and universities. A weekly survey by the American College Health Association found influenza-like illness at 72 percent of schools surveyed as of Sept. 4. The flu is being contracted at a rate of about 18 cases per 10,000 students.

In other parts of the country, H1N1 is most widespread at Washington State’s Pullman campus, where more than 2,600 students have contracted flulike symptoms, according to Inside Higher Ed.

At Cornell University, where a junior died Friday due to complications related to the flu, the Inter-Fraternity Council at Cornell University has enacted a moratorium on all social events for a week.

Hey, great to see you again! How was your summer, H1N1?

The beginning of the school year is always full of logistical challenges for college administrators, but this year they’ve got another potential problem to deal with: swine flu, which is now going by the less catchy moniker, H1N1.

Inside Higher Ed is reporting that there have already been H1N1 outbreaks at Anderson University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Kansas and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that schools encourage self-isolation of sick students and consider suspending classes if any significant portion of the student body catches the virus.

Georgetown came away from this Spring’s big swine flu scare relatively unscathed, but administrators are already taking precautions as students start to return to campus. According to a campus-wide email sent out by Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson and Assistant Vice President for Student Health James Walsh on Friday, there have been a couple of H1N1 cases at Georgetown over the summer, but all have fully recovered and are no longer contagious.

The email said that students who currently have the flu should delay their return to campus. If you get sick while on campus, the email instructs you to call the Student Health Center’s H1N1 advice line at (202) 784-4161 and stay in your room until you’ve recovered.

Photo from the Daily Contributor.

Behavior we suggest you avoid

This evening, the Assistant Vice President of Student Health sent out a broadcast email saying that on Friday and this morning, D.C. health officials confirmed that three members of the “University community” had contracted H1N1, or swine flu.

The email did not make clear whether the three patients, who have since “fully recovered,” are University employees, faculty, or students.

According to the email:

“This incident is not surprising and does not pose any additional health risks for other members of the University community … Georgetown officials continue to be in touch with public health authorities to learn updated information and take any steps appropriate for the University community.

“While we do not believe there are any greater health risks to members of the University community, we do ask that individuals continue to take appropriate personal precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, including regular hand washing and/or the use of alcohol based hand sanitizer.”

Read the full text of the email after the jump!

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We at Vox wade through the web 2.0 morass and pick out the top 5 Georgetown tweets of the week. Wanna be considered? Start following GtownVoxPop on Twitter and, if you’re connected to Georgetown, we’ll return the favor and you’ll automatically be in the running for your own 15-seconds of internet micro-micro-fame!

Julie Alcarez discovered that finals bring out the nerd in all of us.

Jack Stuef judged then embraced our Swine Flu-infected GW peers.

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D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced this afternoon that there are two probable cases of Swine Flu at nearby George Washington University. Earlier this week, the Hatchet reported that two students had tested positive for the “A strain” of influenza, which is related to Swine Flu, but it has not yet been confirmed whether the cases are related.

These are the first reported cases of Swine Flu in the District (the World Bank employee and White House staffer who caught it both live in Maryland).

According to the Hatchet:

Peter Vigilance, head of Department of Health, said “We don’t want people to be alarmed. The probable cases we have observed at GW exhibiting the same mild symptoms as other U.S. citizens.”

Vigilance said that the cases have been sent the Centers for Disease Control for further testing. The two female students were infected because one student traveled to “an area of concern” and then passed the virus to the other student, Vigilance said.

Vigilance added, “The University has taken excellent measures to place these students in separate locations.

According to the City Paper, both students have recovered but are still being quarantined.

With a World Bank employee and White House staffer confirmed as the first D.C.-area swine flu cases and outbreaks popping up and Universities, it’s easy to get freaked out about Swine Flu (or, in more politically correct terms, “H1N1″). If the University’s plan of action didn’t assuage you, here’s more info:

MEXICO: While other schools are evacuating their students from Mexico, according to University Spokesperson Julie Green-Bataille, no Georgetown students are currently studying there. No decisions have been made about the future of study abroad programs in Mexico at this point.

Jim Welsh, Assistant Vice President for Student Health, said at yesterday’s information session that any students from Mexico who are going home for the summer should check in with Student Health services before they leave.

TREATMENT: In the information session, Mary Young, a professor of infectious diseases, stressed that no one from the US has died (the only fatality in the States was a young Mexican boy who was brought to Houston for treatment) and that there are medications, such as Tamiflu, that appear to work against swine flu (although, she did mention that every pharmacy in D.C. was sold-out).

TRAVEL: Young also said that the surgical masks hypochondriacs have been sporting are pretty useless and that anyone flying home after exams should be fine, but should be washing their hands very, very frequently while traveling.

SANITIZER: And those complaints about Georgetown using anti-bacterial sanitizer to combat a virus (one of the central complaints of the classic anti-Todd Olson email)? Green-Bataille says the University’s just following instructions:

As for the sanitizers, alcohol based hand sanitizer and bleach wipes are among the items recommended for use to us by health officials. These are precautionary measures and meant at this point meant to keep areas clean.

Photo from Flickr user djuggler, used under a Creative Commons license.

Pandemic? Or, perfect excuse to postpone your finals?

Having learned earlier this year how quickly a college campus can turn into a cesspool, Georgetown officials are taking all precautions to prevent a Hilltop swine flu epidemic (including kicking students out of their houses during study days…).

After sending out an email on Tuesday saying that finals and commencement would proceed as scheduled and instructing everyone to, ya know, wash their hands and be sanitary and stuff, the University sent out a second, harder-core email last night, outlining their five-pronged plan for swine-flu-survival.

Here are the basic tenets:

• Don’t go to Mexico. And if you must, you’ll need to get a health assessment before coming back on to campus
• Cleaning crews will be sanitizing high-traffic areas and hand sanitizer will be available in residence halls.
• The University has created quarantine houses in case they’re needed
• There will be a discussion today at 1 pm in the ICC Auditorium with University officials and infectious disease experts to calm down the hypochondriacs.
• Seriously people: wash your goddamn hands.

While it would definitely suck to be one of the unfortunate souls kicked out of their houses to make room for potential quarantine areas, it seems like the University is handling this as well as it can.  Vox will be attending the Swine Flu info session this afternoon—if you can’t make it but have a question you want to ask, leave it in the comments!

Full email after the jump.

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