To the Dartmouth community,
Most days we continue to diagnosis students with Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI); however, the number of cases diagnosed remains less than what we were experiencing a few weeks ago.
The College Health Service office began monitoring the number of students diagnosed on Sept. 22. From Oct. 19-25, or Week Five of our tracking, the number of students diagnosed with ILI was 35. As of Wednesday of this week, we’ve had 14 for a total of 308 students total since Sept. 22
While new cases have declined in the past week, it is certainly too soon to say that ILI has run its course at Dartmouth. We continue to monitor new cases and encourage all students diagnosed with ILI to voluntarily isolate themselves until they are free of a fever for at least 24 hours.
The majority of the students diagnosed with ILI have developed mild to moderate flu-like symptoms that last for a few days, and other than a few students who have stayed overnight at Dick’s House, we’re fortunate that no one has needed to be hospitalized.
Dick’s House has received an initial shipment of the H1N1 vaccine including both the live, attenuated (nasal spray) vaccine and the killed (injectable) vaccine. This initial supply has been given to the targeted groups of individuals as directed by the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services guidelines. We are hoping and anticipating getting more vaccine from the state in the near future. As soon as we receive more vaccine, we will be announcing additional vaccine clinics that will be targeted to the groups identified by the state guidelines.
We're also encouraging all members of our community to practice good hygiene during this time, which is an effective way of minimizing your chances of contracting viral illnesses including the H1N1 virus.
