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Wisconsin

UW Hospital stops student volunteers over H1N1
The Associated Press
Updated: 09/12/2009 06:39:21 PM CDT

http://www.twincities.com/wisconsin/ci_13325134?nclick_check=1

MADISON, Wis.—The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Edgewood student volunteer program at UW Hospital and Clinics has been suspended because of the high number of students with swine flu symptoms. Infection control director Dr. Nasia Safdar said the hospital system decided to proactively stop allowing student volunteers in the interest of protecting the patients from the H1N1 virus.

The policy also limits who can visit patients.

In the American Family Children’s Hospital, only patients or legal guardians are allowed to visit. Similar restrictions now apply at UW Hospital.

Safdar says that with the vaccine coming at the end of October, they may revisit the regulations, but the suspension of student volunteers could last through the flu season.

Washington State Department of Health has so far confirmed 159 hospitalizations in the general population since the start of the Pandemic and 14 deaths across the state.

Washington U Student hospitalized as 360 new cases of Swine Flu surface in three days

PULLMAN, Washington – (Update 4) A student at Washington State University has been hospitalized and 360 new cases of Swine Flu have surfaced in just three days.

68 cases surfaced on Friday, 128 on Thursday and 169 on Wednesday but the university says health authorities have seen a gradual decline in the number of students turning up with flu-like symptoms which are being treated as cases of H1N1 infections.

“One of our high-risk patients was hospitalized Wednesday for dehydration and is expected to recover,” the latest update on Saturday from WSU reported. The hospital’s clinic will remain open on Sunday.

“The overwhelming majority of our patients have had mild symptoms and are usually better in three to five days. We have had about a dozen patients with nausea and vomiting who required hydration,” the report said.

The university estimates about 2,000 students have contacted health services with flu-like symptoms and the university is treating all cases of flu-like illness as an infection from the novel H1N1 virus, said a bulletin published Friday.

However, the count has remained the same since Sept. 3 despite a growing number of students being taken ill. The real picture based on numbers being reported could indicate some 3,000 of the 18,000 students have suffered the infection.

The university said it does not have a real count and does not know if other students have sought private medical advice.

“We’ve been asked by the county health department to track numbers in this way to give us a better idea of how many students at WSU actually have influenza-like illness,” said the notification.

“We are treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1,” said the latest update posted on Friday. The university is distributing flu care kits to students.

Dr. Timothy Moody, Whitman County Health officer said it is a “certainty” that the students are suffering from Swine Flu.

The university stopped lab testing for Swine Flu after the first few cases were confirmed.

The university confirms the Swine Flu outbreak began August 24 and a more than a 100 people are coming in or calling the health care centre evey day since then.

Washington State Department of Health has so far confirmed 159 hospitalizations in the general population since the start of the Pandemic and 14 deaths across the state.

Across the U.S. 9,079 have been hospitalized while 593 people have died. New data from the CDC for the period between August 30 to September 5 states an additional 196 people have died from influenza and pneumonia associated with flu-like illness.

The CDC is now supplying combined data for Swine Flu and flu-like illness along with pneumonia.

http://www.vancouverite.com/2009/09/12/more-cases-of-swine-flu-at-wsu/