New guidelines to help combat spread of H1N1

The Department of Health and Human Services has released guidelines to combat the spread of the H1N1 flu in preparation for the upcoming flu season.

The guidelines are targeted specifically at college campuses and mostly call for maintaining hygiene and facilitating isolation when a person falls ill with the virus.

The guidelines suggest universities relax absentee rules to make it easier for sick students to stay home and also to suspend classes in the event of a serious outbreak.

“We released it now, in August, to allow schools to prepare for the flu season,” said Candice Burns, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “They present action they can take now and strategies they can use if the flu is more severe than the spring and summer.”

University Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson also suggested reviewing grading procedures to accommodate any illnesses.

“You will also want to consider a range of alternatives (depending on the circumstances) for evaluating students’ performance in the event of widespread absenteeism or a significant interruption,” she said in an e-mail to faculty.

Although cases on IU’s campus have been limited, Hanson encouraged faculty and students in research and creative activity groups to develop “contingency plans” for absences caused by an outbreak.

“The federal Centers for Disease Control and the Indiana State Department of Health now expect that the H1N1 flu will be more widespread this fall and will have a significantly greater effect on normal activities during the upcoming regular flu season (and possibly earlier),” Hanson said in the e-mail.

The guidelines suggest several ways to isolate the spread of an H1N1 case, including instituting a “flu buddy scheme” in which an infected person limits interaction to only one other person.

“The guidance put a menu of strategies to keep facilities open while reducing spread of flu to faculty and staff,” Burns said.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre has yet to read the guidelines, but said the University has a committee in place that monitors the situation daily. The University already handled two cases of H1N1 in late May.

“President McRobbie and especially our health staff and risk management staff have been carefully following guidance that is coming from our federal government and state health officials, and we’re pretty confident that we’ve got a system in place here in Bloomington to stay on top of this situation and quickly identify any H1N1 cases that might arise,” MacIntyre said.

He also mentioned that all residence halls, staff and students have been given careful instructions on what to do if a case surfaces.

Regular flu vaccines are available at the IU Health Center, and MacIntyre said the H1N1 vaccine will be available as soon as it comes in.

Burns said the virus spreads the quickest among people six months to 24 years old, which is why the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is recommending that people younger than 25 be one of the first groups to receive the vaccine when it becomes available in October.

Other groups at risk include the elderly, pregnant women and people with children, especially children under six months of age because they are unable to receive vaccinations themselves.

MacIntyre said that in the event of an outbreak, any decisions affecting the University, including suspending classes, would have to be carefully weighed.

“These are judgment calls, and there is a lot of guidance now from HHS,” MacIntyre said. “That committee will be monitoring the situation daily and will make a recommendation to President McRobbie any time there’s a question.”