The swine flu has come to campus.

Jay Frerotte, Pitt’s director of environmental health and safety, said the University learned of its first case of suspected swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, this past Thursday.

Since then, Pitt has received reports of “a few” more cases. Frerotte declined to say specifically how many people on campus might have the swine flu, noting that since this isn’t the middle of flu season, almost anyone with a flu-like sickness is considered a possible case of the swine flu.

News of the swine flu on Pitt’s campus comes one week after a University of Nebraska-Omaha student died of possible complications from H1N1, making her one of the first college students in the nation to do so. (See Death p. 4.)

Frerotte said most of the cases at Pitt have been mild. He suggested that students with flu-like symptoms — which include fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, aches and, occasionally, vomiting or diarrhea — call either Student Health Service or the University’s 24-hour H1N1 hotline.

Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey said in an e-mail to students yesterday that people who call the hotline will be put in touch with a health care provider. If they have mild symptoms, they will be told to get rest, drink lots of fluids, take pain relievers, take fever reducers and self-isolate.

Students with flu-like symptoms shouldn’t attend class or social events, Frerotte said, and sick students within reasonable driving distance should return to their homes. Sick students who can’t travel home are advised to stay in their apartments or dorms.

Frerotte said a resident director or student health worker will call to check on sick students who are living on campus each day. The University will also arrange to have food sent to students in dorms, so they don’t have to leave isolation. The University recommends that students living off campus designate a friend to help them, should they get the swine flu.

Frerotte said students with flu-like symptoms should leave their rooms for necessities and medical care, but they should wear the masks that Pitt provides.

Carnegie Mellon University, which has at least 26 suspected cases of the swine flu, places students with flu-like symptoms in an on-campus facility with round-the-clock nurses, according to KDKA-TV. Carnegie Mellon spokesmen did not return phone calls for comment.

Frerotte said an on-campus facility is not part of the plan for Pitt yet.

He said a team of University officials — made of representatives from Environmental Health and Safety, Student Health Service, Student Affairs and other organizations — has been meeting regularly since May to develop a basic plan for dealing with the swine flu.

“There’s not a single … magic factor that says if we get to Point X, we will suspend classes,” Frerotte said. “There are a number of considerations to be taken into account.”

He said the University’s swine flu team will consider the severity of a swine flu symptoms, numbers of cases and people’s reactions when deciding whether it needs to take further action to respond to the pandemic.

Humphrey said the task force will consider guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and advice from the county health department, Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health and doctors at UPMC.

Frerotte said the University will update students if the swine flu becomes more severe or if the number of cases increases.

Most people who get the swine flu don’t need to take antiviral medicines, Frerotte said. The exceptions would be pregnant women, people with high-risk medical conditions, such as asthma, or critically ill people. They should take Tamiflu or a similar drug.

He previously said he expects a swine flu vaccine to be available by mid-October. College students will be among the first to receive the shots.

People ages 65 or older were exposed to a strain of the flu that was similar to H1N1 between 30 and 50 years ago, giving them some resistance to it. Because college-age students don’t have this resistance, they’re given a higher priority on the list of vaccine recipients.