printable versionStanford officials prepare for H1N1 flu
BY KATE CHESLEY
As the university prepares for the start of a new academic year, members of Stanford's Infection Control Planning Group continue to update their plans for dealing with the H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu.
Following on the August release of H1N1 flu guidelines for colleges and universities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the group has updated its web pages and has focused on such issues as communicating with faculty, staff, students and parents; managing illness in the residences; and creating new guidelines for recently ill employees returning to work. An updated policy has been posted on the university's H1N1 flu web pages.
As the university prepares for the possibility of an increase in the rate of H1N1 infection, Ira Friedman, director of Vaden Health Center, said he hopes in particular that ill faculty and staff will resolve to stay home until they are well.
"It is tough to get staff and faculty to stay home," said Friedman, who heads the Infection Control Planning Group with Larry Gibbs, associate vice provost for environmental health and safety. "Sometimes, our culture doesn't promote self-care. People feel like others are depending on them, and they take liberties with their health. That's not good for the community. If I could say one thing to faculty and staff, it would be this: Please, if you are not feeling well, stay home."
Moreover, the university has developed an interim return-to-work policy that complies with the recommendations of the CDC and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
Provost John Etchemendy is writing to members of the faculty, asking them to encourage ill students to stay home. He wrote, "We expect a greater than normal number of students to be sick and unable to attend class for as many as three to five days. If students feel obligated to come to class while sick, this will endanger both you and other students in your class."
Among the key elements of the CDC guidelines that Stanford is following is a recommendation that students who are ill with the flu and who live relatively close to the campus return home if possible to be cared for by their families. The CDC also shortened the recommended isolation period for individuals with the flu to just 24 hours after a fever has ceased without aid of medication.
Friedman will be writing to parents of students, asking for their help in encouraging their children to take steps to avoid illness and to remain isolated if they are sick. The university will stress self-isolation for ill students. Dining Services also has been working to provide meals to students unable to leave their rooms.
Friedman said he anticipates that Stanford will participate in the H1N1 vaccination program. Young adults are considered to be among the highest risk groups. Stanford annually administers vaccinations for the seasonal flu and is scheduled to do so at Vaden beginning Oct. 12. A full schedule is available on the Vaden website.
Although there will be no benefits fairs this year, seasonal flu vaccinations also will be offered by Stanford Benefts at various locations Oct. 6, 7, and 8.
Individuals also are encouraged to seek shots from their primary health care providers.
In the spring, Friedman said Stanford had 12 probable student cases of H1N1 and confirmation on five of them. Cases of the flu continued into summer, as influenza circulated in camps, conferences and summer programs.
"Numbers aren't as crucial, given that the range of severity for H1N1 matches that of the seasonal influenza," he said. "And just about any case of the flu at this point is likely due to H1N1."
Although H1N1 remains an unpredictable virus, Friedman said Stanford learned much from battling the spread of the virus in the spring. Those lessons are now being applied as Stanford enters a new school year. In addition, Friedman said Stanford benefits from its late fall opening date because it has been able to monitor the experiences of other colleges and universities that began school earlier.
"We learned how valuable our advance planning was," he said. "We already had a pandemic plan in place. We also learned that it is possible to manage influenza in a residential environment."
Students with flu symptoms can be seen at Vaden. Faculty and staff should consult their primary care physicians.
Updated information is available on the university's H1N1 flu information website.