LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' largest universities are among schools across the country preparing for the possibility of significant numbers of swine flu cases as students return to campus.
Some already have pandemic plans in place they say will address the disease, while others are studying a new set of guidelines the federal government released Thursday to see if more contingency plans are needed.
The government hasn't given health providers a date when the swine flu vaccine will be available, and no one knows whether the virus will become more or less a threat this fall and winter.
"We've got about 25,000 people returning to campus from all over the world," said Steve Voorhies, a spokesman for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, referring to the start of fall classes Monday.
The state's largest campus with 19,194 students enrolled last fall, the University of Arkansas also has some faculty on nine-month appointments returning from summer break.
Likewise, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro has convened administrators or faculty to consider how academics, housing and other areas might be affected.
"We're actually hoping people don't panic, because that's not the message at all," said Debbie Persell, an associate professor in ASU's College of Nursing and Health Professions.
She simply wants the campus community to abandon the nonchalant attitude she says people commonly take regarding flu strains and to take steps to prevent infection.
"This is a novel, or new, virus - so people don't have immunity to it," Persell said, referring to the government's finding of little natural immune system protection against the virus among the population.
While health officials say the swine influenza's virulence doesn't match the severity and duration of seasonal flu strains they contend with annually, it is more easily spread than the ordinary varieties.
That's not good news for college students, who live in close quarters or spend considerable stretches of time in a number of classrooms throughout the week.
The traditional student falls within the age group that appears to be most susceptible to the new virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of reported swine flu cases is highest among those ages 5 to 24 - at 26.7 cases per 100,000 population.
That compares with the group with the lowest infection rate, those 65 and older, with 1.3 cases per 100,000 population.
'SELF-ISOLATION'
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a set of guidelines for how colleges and universities might handle prevention and response for the swine flu virus.
The recommendations were offered as a "menu of tools" that schools could pick and choose from based on local conditions, such as size, diversity and mobility of students, faculty and staff. The government suggested balancing the goals of stemming the prevalence of infection and "minimizing educational and social disruption."
The suggestions for campuses include:
"Self-isolation" of ill students or faculty, who should stay away from classes and limit contact with others. In cases where fever is a symptom, they should stay away from people for at least 24 hours after the signs of fever disappear without use of fever-reducing medications.
Consider revising policies that discourage sick people from staying home from class.
Offer distance learning or Web-based learning for isolated students, and increased faculty use of e-mail, text-messaging, and phone calls to contact sick students.
"Flu buddy" systems, where students would pair up to care for one another should one of them become ill, taking the sick student meals, medicines and class assignments.
Encouraging ill students whose hometowns are relatively close to campus to return home until well. For students who cannot leave and don't have private rooms, campuses could consider providing temporary, alternate housing.
Educating and encouraging students to wash hands frequently and to cough or sneeze into a tissue, shirt-sleeve or elbow.
Providing disposable wipes so students can clean commonly used surfaces.
TWO CASES FOR ASU
At ASU, administrators have figured out what they will and won't be able to do about swine flu.
Persell, who also is coordinator for ASU's Regional Center for Disaster Preparedness Education, said the Jonesboro campus put a pandemic plan in place two or three years ago, when health officials were planning for avian flu.
"We pulled it out, and we changed it and adapted it for this," she said.
Markham Howe, an ASU spokesman, said the main campus, which enrolled 11,490 students last fall, has had a mini-test of its swine flu plan already.
"We had two confirmed cases during the summertime," he said.
Both were students tested through ASU's Student Health Center, which doesn't have data on other students who could have been treated for the virus by their family doctor, he said.
"We isolated them. We took food to them," Howe said.
Online technology called Blackboard that is used already by many ASU faculty members to do some of their teaching online would minimize the effects of classroom absences, said Rick Stripling, vice chancellor for student affairs. Hand sanitizer is being placed in high-traffic areas such as the cafeteria and dorms.
"Monday, when school starts, we've asked our faculty to bring it up and discuss it with our students," Howe added.
HOGS MUM ON FLU CASES
UA-Fayetteville officials acknowledged some swine flu cases on campus, but wouldn't provide numbers, saying they lost meaning after the government stopped testing.
On July 24, the CDC discontinued official reporting of individual cases, saying it "became an increasingly inaccurate representation" as the outbreak's intensification limited some to testing only hospitalized patients.
"They're not relevant," Voorhies said.
"We're going to have cases - what we're trying to do is keep the numbers down."
Mary Alice Serafini, director of the Fayetteville campus's Pat Walker Health Center, noted that university employees met Thursday for an audio conference on swine flu, then again Friday with administrative departments that serve students from across campus.
"We're in the educational phase," she said, calling Thursday's government guidelines a "wonderful resource" and starting point.
On Aug. 12, UA-Fayetteville Provost Sharon Gaber sent a memo to deans, department heads and faculty.
"The university asks that faculty members put as many class materials as possible online to facilitate the continuity of classes," Gaber wrote.
FLU BLUEPRINTS
Before the testing stopped, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock estimated it had two to four suspected cases of swine flu, but they were never confirmed as such, said spokesman Joan I. Duffy.
"We do have a written plan to deal with flu," she said. "We have had a flu committee on campus, and we've been working closely with the Health Department."
UALR, which reported enrollment of 12,031 last fall, has three dormitories, Duffy said, adding that she believes plans exist to isolate dorm dwellers who get sick.
"We are prescribing Tamiflu" for those who come down with a flu-like illness, Duffy said. "They have stockpiled several thousand doses."
At the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, officials have no confirmed swine flu cases, said Jeff Pitchford, vice president for university and government relations.
UCA has had a pandemic plan in place for several years, he said.
"Our staff is looking at it from the viewpoint of, it's just a matter of time before we get one," Pitchford said of the swine flu.
UCA, which enrolled 12,979 students last fall, is following CDC and Arkansas Health Department guidelines and working closely with its city and county officials, he added.
The university is educating the campus community, training students who serve as residence assistants, and Monday will send out a letter to students, faculty and staff on how to prevent infection.
"What would your mom tell you to do?" he said.
Arkansas, Pages 15, 18 on 08/23/2009