700 Pitt affiliates contracted H1N1 last year

About one in every 50 people at Pitt reported having flu-like symptoms last semester, a ratio… About one in every 50 people at Pitt reported having flu-like symptoms last semester, a ratio experts describe as ordinary.

The University recently announced on its H1N1 website that more than 700 of the nearly 33,750 students, faculty, staff and research associates on Pitt’s Oakland campus had flu-like symptoms, a possible sign of H1N1, last semester. Flu-like symptoms, according to the University’s definition, include a fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue.

Between Nov. 23 and the end of the fall semester, there were fewer than 10 active cases of flu-like illness on any day on campus, the site said.

Dr. Sam Stebbins, director of Pitt’s Center for Public Health Preparedness at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, said other college campuses reported similar figures. He said he expects another wave of H1N1 this spring, during flu season.

Pitt will offer additional H1N1 vaccines throughout the month. The University will offer its first free clinic to faculty and staff from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday in the Ballroom of the University Club located at 123 University Place. Students can receive the vaccine for free at Falk Pharmacy, 3601 Fifth Ave., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday through the end of the month.

Some students worry about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, despite the fact that the University, like some health agencies, insists that the vaccine is made the same way as the seasonal flu vaccine and is therefore safe.

Student Elizabeth Hill said she doesn’t plan to get the vaccine.

“Everyone I know who has had swine flu has gotten over it somewhat easily, without any serious side effects. Why would I want to volunteer to put something foreign into my body that could potentially have adverse reactions, if not immediately, then somewhere down the line? Science has been wrong before, and I’m not going to risk it,” she said.

Pitt’s website notes that some people ¬— adults 65 or older, children 5 or younger, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions — are at “high risk” of developing complications from H1N1.

Many people develop an immunity to H1N1 after they have it the first time. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns on its website that people with weakened immune systems might not develop full immunity, so they could develop H1N1 a second time.