The H1N1 virus – swine flu – has infected seven University students since its outbreak in April, a number the University community is working to prevent from growing.

“All seven students have recovered or are recovering,” according to the University Health Center Web site on H1N1.

Three of the students were tested at the Health Center and the other four had tests performed elsewhere, Liz Rachun, public relations coordinator for the University Health Center, said in a telephone interview Friday. She said the testing done at the Health Center is mostly for epidemiological purposes, to see how many cases are in the Athens-Clarke County area.

The University Health Center is able to test students for H1N1 because it is part of the U.S. Influenza Sentinel Providers Surveillance Network, she said.

Rachun said students with suspected cases are first given a rapid test, the results of which are then sent out to the Georgia Division of Public Health for confirmation. The rapid test produces results in about 15 minutes, she said, and it takes about two weeks for further testing results to be returned.

“Any student who comes in with flu-like symptoms is tested,” she said.

Some of the possible symptoms include aches, a fever of more than 100 degrees, plus a cough and sore throat.

“These are confirmed cases – all seven – by the [Georgia Division of Public Health], not just by the rapid test,” Rachun said. “This is per Dr. Jean Chin, executive director of the Health Center.”

John Newton, emergency operations coordinator for the Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, said in a telephone interview Friday to contact a doctor early for any flu symptoms, as antiviral medications are only effective if administered during the first two days after symptoms appear.

He advised students to drink plenty of fluids, sleep and avoid contact with others if any flu-like symptoms should occur. He also said students with such symptoms should not consume alcoholic beverages.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have named five at-risk groups who are most likely to contract the virus, he said. One of these groups includes people ages six months to 24 years, a category most University students fall under.

Flu shots, both H1N1 and seasonal, will most likely be administered at an additional cost to students, even if they have paid their Health Center fee, he said. The seasonal shots should be available at the Health Center beginning in late August.

Newton said a limited supply of seasonal flu shots will be available for free to students during the College of Pharmacy’s Dawgtoberfest.

He said the Georgia Division of Public Health will distribute vaccines to the areas with people in these five groups.

“Right now, we haven’t signed any agreements with Public Health,” he said, but added, the eventual plan is for the Health Center to stock the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.

Though nothing is definitive yet, the preliminary hypothesis is the vaccine will be administered in two shots 21 to 28 days apart, he said.

Ralph Tripp, professor in the department of Infectious Diseases, said in a telephone interview Friday pilot lots of the H1N1 vaccines are now undergoing clinical trials at Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units. Both Emory and Vanderbilt Universities are VTEUs.

Though the University is not a VTEU, Tripp said it is one of six Regional Centers of Excellence of Influenza Research and Surveillance involved in research to “understand the transmission and disease pathogenesis of the H1N1 infection.”

He said the two types of licensed vaccines being studied included killed intramuscular vaccines and live weakened viruses given as a nasal spray.

Both types use the reference strain A/California/04/09, also of swine origin.

He said the virus is unusual compared to the seasonal flu because it infects robustly, came during the summer months and belongs to the same H1N1 group as the Spanish Influenza.

Despite its uniqueness, Tripp cautions students from overreacting to the threat of H1N1.

“It is unlikely the severity will be high,” he said. “It has very minimal virulence.”

The current strain, he said, “lacks the molecular signature present in the 1918 virus.” This signature, PB1-F2, is what caused Spanish Influenza to be as severe and fatal as it was.

H1N1, for example, has only caused 10 percent the number of deaths of seasonal flu during this first wave of infection, Tripp said.

He said seasonal flu causes 36,000 deaths annually.

Tripp said the main worry with H1N1 is that it could combine with a more virulent strain of influenza, such as H3N2. This strain causes a more severe disease, he said, and has changed its code since a vaccine was created to combat it.

Newton said right now, most of the cases of H1N1 are fairly mild, but an educational campaign partnership involving the Health Center, the Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness and University Housing is hoping to delay any major outbreak for as long as possible.

Newton said he hopes the campaign will encourage students to practice healthy habits.

“It may sound silly and a lot of people may discount it,” he said, “but a lot of simple things will help students prevent the flu.”

Rachun said bus cards will be going up today to kick off the campaign. She said though some procedures are still being discussed, students who get the flu will be advised to go back home if at all possible, and staff and students should not go to class.

“Our goal, of course, is to keep campus as healthy as possible,” she said.

Newton said that while shutting down the University due to an outbreak will be up to University President Michael Adams, there are contingencies in place.

“We’re at stage six; we’re at pandemic, but it’s not what we thought,” he said. “It’s not a huge distraction.”

“We want people to be prepared, but we don’t want people to panic,” Newton said.