Rice takes steps to protect students, faculty and staff during flu season

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

With the new school year just under way, more than 75 Rice students have been sidelined by the flu. Dr. Mark Jenkins, director of Student Health Services, said the majority of them are experiencing mild cases and recuperating within several days.

The 2009 novel H1N1 influenza virus, also called swine flu, is the dominant flu virus in circulation around the world, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). H1N1 is circulating with seasonal flu viruses, and it appears to have fast-forwarded flu season, which usually doesn’t begin until later in the fall. The number of confirmed influenza cases is expected to rise at campuses all across the country.

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Usually during the first few weeks of school (and right after O-week), Rice’s Student Health Services sees a number of students with colds and other respiratory illnesses, but rarely the flu this early, Jenkins said. “It’s already like a bad February flu season.”

As of Sept. 2, Student Health Services had seen 75 students with flu-like symptoms; 38 of them were confirmed as influenza with a rapid test, which does not indicate the type of flu virus.

Because the main way flu spreads is from person to person in droplets produced by coughs and sneezes, sick students are asked to avoid contact with others until at least 24 hours after the fever is gone (without the use of fever-reducing medication), except to get medical care or other necessities. The CDC recommends that students who have family in the local area go home for the duration of their illness. Other students should quarantine themselves in their room and make arrangements for a friend to deliver their meals.
The CDC advises roommates of sick students to stay six feet away and wash their hands frequently.

Faculty members have been asked to allow sick students to make up homework assignments, tests and lab requirements, and not require a doctor’s note. Faculty members have also been encouraged to make course materials and notes available electronically so that sick students can access them from their room or home.

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Find out how Rice University is managing flu season on the school’s emergency information site
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to frequently asked questions about the flu
Two antiviral drugs — Tamiflu and Relenza — can reduce the severity and duration of illness caused by flu viruses if taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. But according to the CDC, people with suspected H1N1 influenza who have a fever and no complications from their illness typically do not require treatment unless they are in one of the higher-risk groups, such as pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, asthma and kidney disease. “The majority of students at Rice have recovered just fine without antiviral medications,” Jenkins said.

Over-the-counter medicines without aspirin, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, may relieve fever and aches. Cold and flu medications may help lessen cough and congestion. However, the CDC cautions that these medications will not lessen how infectious a person is.

Students can get a seasonal flu shot for $13 Sept. 10 at the Student Health Center. (Shots are free for students in the CDC’s higher-risk groups.) Vaccines against H1N1 flu aren’t expected to be available until October. Students are encouraged to get both types of flu shots to protect them from seasonal flu as well as H1N1, both of which are characterized by a fever above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) accompanied by a cough and/or sore throat. Additional symptoms may include a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, unusual fatigue, diarrhea or vomiting.

The CDC had predicted that the H1N1 virus would return during regular flu season this fall and winter, and Rice’s Crisis Management Team began preparing for flu season over the summer. Facilities crews installed 150 alcohol-based hand sanitizers in buildings across campus, and posters and flyers with information about how to avoid contamination and what to do if you get the flu have been posted in public areas of most buildings. Flu kits with medical information and thermometers to monitor fever are being provided to the residential colleges. And links to more information about the flu are being posted on the faculty, staff and student gateways on rice.edu.

Rice will post flu updates on rice.edu, and members of the Crisis Management Team are meeting weekly to monitor the situation. If an outbreak warrants closing the campus temporarily, the CMT will communicate an announcement through e-mail, text messages, rice.edu, local media and Rice’s automated emergency telephone line, 713-348-8888.

For more information about the flu, visit the CDC site at http://www.flu.gov/ or the Texas Department of State Health Services site at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/swineflu/.

Questions for the CMT can be sent to Dan Fu at Dan.Fu@rice.edu.

An Aug. 28 Rice News story about the flu can be found at http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=12988.