Doctors confirmed yesterday that an Ohio University student contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. The university awaits test results for four other students.
The student, who lives off campus, tested positive for the seasonal flu at Hudson Health Center last Tuesday. That Friday, Hudson sent a sample to an independent medical service for H1N1 testing, which returned a positive result yesterday morning, administrators said.
The infected student recovered and returned to class, said Ryan Lombardi, dean of students.
A strain of the seasonal flu, H1N1 spreads much like more common variants of the virus. Its symptoms include: fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least two other students have tested negative for H1N1, he said.
Doctors use the same treatments for both H1N1 and seasonal flu cases, Lombardi said in an email to students yesterday. He added that diagnosing H1N1 isn't necessary in most cases.
Students can find more information about preventing infection on OU's website, under the current students section, he said in the email.
H1N1 first hit the US in April, and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on June 11.
This year's official flu season doesn't begin until Sunday, but 46,329 people have already been diagnosed with H1N1 since the outbreak began, according to the most recent numbers from the CDC. From Aug. 30 to Sept. 19, doctors reported 10,082 hospitalizations and 936 deaths associated with the flu.
The virus has affected more young adults and children ages five to 24 than health officials expected, said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, during a news conference last Friday.
Between September 19 and 25, 91 percent of 274 colleges nationwide reported a total of 6,527 possible cases of H1N1, according to the American College
Health Association.
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Frank Thomas
