Health & Wellness Services Flu update - 08.28.09 - 9:30 a.m.
HWS staff has seen 179 patients with influenza-like illness since Monday. Of those 179 patients, 32 were tested for type A influenza and 7 of those tests were positive. These numbers were gathered from our database and are more accurate than previous estimates. Health care providers in the local community have also seen WSU students with influenza-like illnesses, but we do not have numbers available for those patients.
Following Centers for Disease Control guidelines, Health & Wellness Services is encouraging all influenza patients who are not severely ill and at low risk for complications from influenza to self care at home and to isolate themselves as much as possible in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. Self isolation should continue until the patient has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication.
HWS has distributed self care and self assessment information to WSU students through multiple communication channels. The vast majority of the patients we’ve been seeing have had relatively mild symptoms. The patients have been responding well to acetaminophen and feel better within days.
If a patient has severe symptoms or is considered high risk for complications from influenza, they should call or come in. Patients who are at all unsure about their symptom status or whether or not they should seek medical attention are strongly encouraged to call Health and Wellness Services at 509-335-3575 or come in to be seen.
Seek emergency medical care if you or someone you know is having any of following warning signs:
In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or persistent vomiting
Seek emergency medical care if you or someone you know is experiencing any of the signs above.
In accordance with guidelines from the Whitman County Health Department and the CDC, HWS is no longer testing patients to confirm H1N1 infection, and we are only testing high risk patients for type A influenza . If a patient tests positive for type A influenza, it is assumed they have H1N1 and are treated accordingly. It is also possible to have H1N1 and not test positive for type A influenza. We are treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1.
People at high risk of serious flu complications are young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease and people 65 years and older.
People at greatest risk for novel H1N1 infection include children, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease.
Seasonal flu vaccine is available at HWS for WSU students who are at high risk for complications from influenza. We anticipate that seasonal flu vaccine will be available for non-high risk WSU students no later than October. At this time we are focusing on our student patients and are not providing flu vaccine for WSU employees. High-risk students are encouraged to come to HWS during morning hours, when there are usually fewer sick patients in the clinic, to get vaccinated.
No comments:
Post a Comment