Dartmouth administrators are working with officials at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as well as county and state health departments to stay informed of any developments in the swine flu outbreak, director of College Health Services John Turco said Monday in a campus-wide e-mail. There are currently no reported cases of the virus in New England, he said.
Federal health officials declared a "public health emergency" on Sunday after 40 cases of the flu were confirmed in the United States and more than 100 swine flu-related deaths were reported in Mexico.
Turco's e-mail, an apparent attempt to allay community members' concerns, also included several precautions that can be taken to minimize the chance of transmission as well as links to relevant health information.
"The most reassuring thing so far is that this has been a relatively mild illness in the U.S.," Turco said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Dartmouth's emergency planning committee, a group of College officials that coordinates the response to major threats to campus, met on Sunday to discuss the flu, Turco said. The committee, which Turco said began planning for the possibility of a pandemic after the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003, will continue to meet at least daily for the next few days.
"This is being transmitted from person to person -- that in and of itself is frightening," he said.
Many of the individuals confirmed to have swine flu in the United States were reported to have either visited Mexico recently or to have been in contact with others who have traveled to the country. Turco said it is unlikely any students who went to Mexico over spring break contracted swine flu as symptoms usually present within 24 to 48 hours.
A group of 11 undergraduates, a faculty member and a teaching assistant are currently in Mexico for the College's Language Study Abroad program in Cholula. While there are currently no plans to end the program early, this could change if the circumstances dictate it, College spokesman Roland Adams said in an interview with The Dartmouth. No LSA participants have reported or exhibited symptoms, Adams said.
There have been no confirmed cases of the flu in Puebla state, where the LSA is based, but the College is in close contact with the group on a daily basis, Adams added.
"The College is going to continue to monitor that situation closely -- we'll make any necessary adjustments promptly if there is the need," he said.
Maria Barsky '11, a student participating in the LSA, said in an e-mail that all universities in Mexico have been closed, including the Universidad de las Americas where the Dartmouth students are studying.
"As a precaution, the College has prohibited us from traveling anywhere this week and suggested that we stay away from any public places," Barsky said in the e-mail. "Masks are being handed out everywhere, and people are advised to stay at home."
Individuals throughout New Hampshire have been tested for the swine flu, but the results thus far have been negative, Jose Montero, New Hampshire's director of public health, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. He would not disclose the number of patients who have been tested.
"It may turn out that this can pass from human to human but the [infectiousness] is fairly low," Turco said.
Montero said that New Hampshire currently has an adequate amount of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, but that the federal government also plans to provide all states with an additional supply.
"At this stage, if anyone needs a prescription, they should have no trouble getting a prescription at their regular pharmacies," he said. "We're certainly not advising people to go out and get it who don't have the flu, since it's not a preventative medication."
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services hopes to get across several key messages to citizens in the coming days, Montero said.
"People should be aware of potential symptoms," he said. "Anyone who is ill should not go to work and anyone whose kids are sick should make sure they stay home from school. Also, as always, the idea of people washing their hands is as important as always in terms of preventing the spread of disease."
He added that it was not surprising that the U.S. government declared a public health emergency on Sunday.
"That was expected," he said. "The declaration is mostly a legal mechanism used to activate several processes and allow the government to move federal funding, contracting and hiring practices into various states."
DHMC has several contingency plans in place in case an epidemic does occur, though the hospital has not had to alter its usual protocols, DHMC media relations manager Jason Aldous said.
"The declaration of a public health emergency gives us a lot more information, but it hasn't resulted in any major operational changes," he said. "We have definitely been more proactive, but there has been no indication of any likely cases of the swine flu."
He added that the hospital has been vigilant in looking for possible cases of swine flu and has distributed additional information to both patients and staff over the past two days.
"Information is the key to making sure employees are on top of the situation," he said. "We want to make sure the staff knows what symptoms to look for and the right questions to ask of patients when they come in."
He said that DHMC is screening all patients who seek treatment at the hospital's outpatient clinics for flu-like symptoms and is determining whether the patients have traveled to any areas where the flu is prevalent.
"Anyone who has a fever or cough, especially if they have traveled or have possibly been exposed to someone who traveled, we're treating it seriously," Aldous said.
The hospital tests all possible flu patients to determine if they have Type A or Type B influenza. Type B influenza is the more common strain of the flu, while the swine flu is a form of Type A.
"If it is Type B, then we know it has nothing to do with the swine flu," he said. "If the test came out A, we would send it out to the state for additional testing, but we haven't had to do that thus far."
