Compared to the fall, the student body has been fairly relaxed this term about the H1N1 flu virus, also known as the swine flu. But despite the number of new cases of H1N1 dropping, health officials say we should brace ourselves for another wave.
“Everything has been very quiet on campus lately, but that doesn’t mean H1N1 won’t come back,” University Health Center Interim Medical Director Jenny Soyke said.  “People from different states and countries are always coming to the University, and they can bring the flu with them. We’re certainly not isolated.”
According to a health center report from last week, there have been 2,545 reports of H1N1 cases on campus since the beginning of fall term. The exact number of cases is uncertain, though, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instructed medical practitioners to stop testing for H1N1 in the fall.
Instead of testing, health care providers identify illnesses that resemble H1N1 as “influenza-like illnesses,” Soyke said. There have been 1,530 reported incidences of influenza-like illness since the fall.
Since it became available, approximately 3,000 seasonal flu vaccines have been administered at the health center, Soyke said. And now that there is no longer a shortage of H1N1 vaccines, the health center is encouraging all students, not just those who are at high risk of catching the flu, to get vaccinated.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius addressed the issue of H1N1 vaccination in a phone conference held by MTV for college media Tuesday morning.
Sebelius referred to H1N1 as “a young person’s flu” because people aged 18 to 24 are more likely to be hospitalized from H1N1 than from any other flu.
“We often have less flu in January, but flu is unpredictable,” Sebelius said. “Flu season isn’t over yet.”
Sebelius predicts seasonal flu to peak in February and March.
Fifteen-year-old Luke Duvall of Arkansas also spoke during the call. Duvall has become a spokesperson for the H1N1 vaccine since he contracted the illness in October. H1N1 has taken an exceptional toll on Duvall. He spent 17 days in the hospital in critical condition, then an additional 17 days in rehabilitation. Duvall was unable to get the vaccine in October because he was a healthy student-athlete and wasn’t considered at risk.
“I could have lost my life because of not being vaccinated,” Duvall said. “I don’t want anyone else to go through the same things that I went through.”
Even though it has been months since he caught H1N1, Duvall still isn’t completely healthy. His lung capacity hasn’t returned to normal, and he often has trouble breathing.
Despite the health warning and availability of the vaccine, the majority of students have not
been vaccinated.
“I just didn’t get the vaccine because it just wasn’t a big deal, and I didn’t have the money,” University freshman Casondra Richey said. “If I eventually get H1N1, it means I’ll never have to worry about it again.”
Other students were unsure about the vaccine’s effects.
“I think that with the flu shot you get kind of sick because the shot is a strand of the flu. I just didn’t want to get sick,” University freshman Monica Perez said.
Freshman Nathan Ong said he didn’t get the vaccine because he thought he may have already caught the flu.
“I might have had H1N1 before I came here and not realized it,” he said. “Before I came to UO, I had a really bad fever, so I think that might have been the flu.”
Soyke said she thought that close to 90 percent of people on campus were still prone to the flu and encouraged students and faculty members to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
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