Four UD Students Infected with Swine Flu
Mrs. Geeks cell phone just got a robocall informing her that 4 UD students have been diagnosed with swine flu. The message said that the website had the details, but the site is currently down. More as the story develops.
Link is now up here.
The message said possibly – not definitely.
We got the same message.
Oh my.
I didn’t actually hear it, the Mrs. did.
Oh sure, blame the girl. Sheesh!
4 students “with mild cases of influenza that match probable definitions for swine flu” was close to what it said.
The Division of Public Health received the preliminary test results confirming the probable cases Tuesday afternoon, conducted interviews with the students and classified the cases as probable swine flu. Confirmation will have to come from the CDC.
From the linked page.
Well, I will be avoiding Newark for the next few months.
My husband teaches there, he can’t avoid students. We both had the flu this year, I hope that means that we have some immunity.
This list of symptoms, gives me the feeling that anyone with a cold is going to be suspect. Or, if they are nervous types with colds, they will talk themselves into the complete list.
–Fever, greater than 100 degrees F,
–Sore throat,
–Cough,
–Stuffy nose,
–Chills,
–Headache,
–Body aches and/or
–Fatigue.
So, you get the flu. Inconvenient, yes, but this isn’t the movie “Outbreak” come to life. Yes, I may be minimizing this, and yes, the federal government should be doing all that it is doing to prevent the spread of it, but it ain’t the end of all things.
Your organs ain’t going to liquefy. So I hope normally healthy and strong people do not panic and demand tamiflu that is needed for the elderly and children and those whose immune systems are weak.
Being a UD grad student as I am, I got two phone calls, a text message, and e-mail, and a voicemail all informing me of this. Nice to know, post VA-Tech, that they keep us informed, but sheesh.
I, for one, am sort of disappointed that they released this info without definitive confirmation from the CDC that it was indeed swine flu. Just seems like unnecessary hyping of what could turn out to be nothing. Then again if it does turn out to be swine flu and they were “withholding” that information, students and parents would get pissed. No win situation, I suppose.
I’m glad I won’t be back on campus for a few days, I couldn’t bear to hear all the sky is falling chatter that’s likely going on right now.
Thank you DelDem for your rational approach. You get a seat in my bomb shelter. I don’t need all those screamin’ meemies. Not to worry, I will wipe your fevered brow.
While I don’t think panic is a constructive reaction, I don’t think calling the public health response to the swine flu situation a “hype” or minimizing the situation takes the current situation seriously enough.
I don’t think I am alone:
Gov. Jack Markell will hold a news conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. in his office in the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington to provide full details on the status and the state’s response to these cases.
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2009/apr/alert042809.html
“It is very likely that we see more serious presentations of illness and some deaths as we go through this flu cycle,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090428/ts_alt_afp/healthfluus2nd_20090428224316
Boy, by Jason’s definition I’ve got the swine flu. Though today I am feeling much much better.
The first swine flu death in the U.S. was reported this morning.
As to the media, which sounds more “sexy” and likely to keep the audience tuned in:
“Death Rate”
or
“Survival Rate”
????????
Apparently, the SURIVIVAL rate of this is high-90’s, but who gives a crap when the DOOM AND GLOOM MORTALITY RATE IS A FEARSOME 1-2%?
Bringing some civility into this, those who are surviving the victims of this flu aren’t exactly taking much solace in the survival rate. To them, even though I don’t know them, I do feel for them, as this is horrible.
As to the four cases at UD, yes, it’s wise and should be expected that we wait for confirmation before screaming Swine Flu! YAAH! A great case would be that 24 (or 23) year old woman from Ontario that was hospitalized in Philly the other day, as she was travelling back from Cancun. Sure, we all heard about her being hospitalized and “SWINE FLU!” was bantered about. Yeah, yesterday evening, the CDC confirmed that it was NOT swine flu. That I have not heard in any of these news reports, except literally as a passing by-line.
UI: a 23-MONTH-old, at that, too. My heart sank to my feet.
Damn students must have spent their spring break sneaking illegals over the border!
😉
Why don’t you take a look at who is running the Division of Public Health at the moment? A Matt Denn appointee with no public health experience or training whatsoever, who bumped a 24-year veteran out of her job. The director of the state’s largest division (3000 employees and several hospitals) is required by law to be a medical doctor.
testing, 1-2-3. Why are you blocking my comment?
Now it’s official, the four students have been confirmed to be infected with swine flu.
I read that it’s 10 now.
UD just sent out another phone alert.
these are the original four – all confirmed positive. The rest are still “possible.” The CDC, who has the task of confirming the lab tests, is horribly jammed with tests to complete. That’s why there is a few day gap from possible to actual.
There is a big thing to keep in mind here, too. This is a (almost) pandemic of flu, not a (almost) pandemic of death. The grade of this flu is considered mild. It will indeed cause some death, but the fear that feels like is teetering on busting out is overblown. The SURVIVAL rate (sorry media, I know you hate that approach) remains over 99% so far (1 death in well over 100 cases). I should note that is one horrible and very unfortunate death of a 23-month-old.
R Smitty talking in moderation. 😉
We’re all gonna DIE!!!!!!!!!!
(someday)
I blame my thoughtiness, nemski. It’s one of those habit thingys.
“My husband teaches there, he can’t avoid students. We both had the flu this year, I hope that means that we have some immunity”
No, but if you’re as old as me 🙂 you may be OK. From CNN
“One theory is that young people, who have strong immune systems, mount a particularly vigorous response to new viruses. But there’s a potential side effect to the response: the body releases dangerous levels of signaling proteins, called cytokines, which can damage the lungs. Scientists believe these “cytokine storms” can be fatal.”
So I guess it’s an advantage to be old for this.
Another theory is that the many Flu shots one takes over the course of their life MAY help with fighting this off