Indiana University leads the fight against swine flu through education, statistical modeling, and medicine
Below are several recent stories detailing Indiana University's research and action responding to the Influenza A, H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak.
- Basic information about swine flu from the IU East Dean of Nursing
- Law professor assesses reactions the public health response
- Pandemic modeling predicts U.S. cases
- Financial Challenges facing an effective response to the swine flu
- Tips for staying healthy
On separate websites you may explore:
- A video "teach-In" featuring local health professionals fielding questions from the public.
- The recent New York Times article describing how Big Red, Indiana Universities supercomputer, is being used to simulate the geographic course of the flu.
IU East Dean of Nursing answers questions on H1N1
Karen Clark, Ed.D., RN, is the dean of the School of Nursing at Indiana University East. In addition to academic publications
and presentations, and holding offices in various professional nursing organizations, Clark has a working background in community health.
Clark recently answered questions on H1N1 as it currently pertains to the campus and community.
Q: What do people need to know about H1N1?
A: H1N1 is an influenza virus which had not been previously identifed. The virus spreads from person to person mainly through coughing or sneezing. Signs and symptoms of H1N1 are similar to the symptoms experienced with other flu viruses and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some individuals who have been diagnosed with the H1N1 have also reported having diarrhea and vomiting.
Q: Can I get infected with this new H1N1 virus from eating or preparing pork?
A: No. The H1N1 virus is not spread by food. You cannot get it from preparing or eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.
Q: What are some basic steps that faculty, staff and students can implement to keep the flu at bay?
A: The single most important thing that faculty, staff and students can do to keep from getting the flu is frequent handwashing with soap and water. Alcohol-based hand cleaners/sanitizers are also effective. Other actions that protect health include:
- Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
- Dispose of the tissue in the trash after you use it. If no tissue is available, cough/sneeze into your shirt sleeve.
- Wash your hands after coughing or sneezing. Avoid touching your mouth, eyes, and nose. Germs spread this way.
- Avoid contact with sick people.
- Stay home if you are sick for at least seven days after your symptoms appear or until you have been symptom free for 24 hours, whichever is longer. This will keep you from passing the virus onto others.
Find the complete interview on the IU East website
Flu reaction: Panic or prudence? -- Indiana University law professor assesses reactions to the public health responses to H1N1
Just one week after the emergence and spread of Influenza A (H1N1) caused national and international declarations of
public health emergencies, the media, pundits and members of the general public began to question whether public health authorities have over-reacted to the outbreak and have inadvertently triggered unnecessary and harmful individual and governmental behavior.
David P. Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said this developing debate about the responses to Influenza A (H1N1) is important but people should be wary of simplistic hype about the "panic" that public health responses to the outbreak have ostensibly caused.
"We have seen irrational responses to public health warnings about Influenza A (H1N1), whether we have the 'worried well' burdening emergency rooms or countries banning the importation of pork products from countries affected by the new virus. Some over-reaction is anticipated -- and sometimes unavoidable -- when societies deal with serious infectious disease threats, because responses to such threats often occur in a context of great uncertainty, as has been the case with this new influenza virus," Fidler said. "Unlike a hurricane or tornado, where the damage is geographically limited, readily observable, and regularly experienced, certain infectious diseases, particularly influenza, can appear unexpectedly and spread rapidly and silently across a community, a nation and the planet before scientists and policy makers fully understand the threat. Microbial threats often induce individual and collective fear, which makes promoting responses based on the best available science and public health principles difficult. However, compared to the climate experienced after the anthrax attacks in 2001 and the SARS outbreak in 2003, I am sensing much less panic and more prudence, which reflects, in part, the preparations made by governments at all levels for a potential pandemic of influenza. I will be relieved if, at the end of this outbreak, we are left debating whether public health responses were appropriate rather than counting and mourning thousands killed by an influenza virus we did not fear enough."
Fidler is one of the world's leading experts on global health and international law and has written extensively in this area and consulted widely with governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations on global health challenges. His most recent books include Biosecurity in the Global Age: Biological Weapons, Public Health, and the Rule of Law (Stanford University Press, 2008, with Lawrence O. Gostin). His analysis of the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak and international law in the Insights series of the American Society of International Law can be found at http://www.asil.org/insights.cfm
Pandemic modeling predicts U.S. cases
Indiana University Rudy Professor of Informatics Alessandro Vespignani, an internationally recognized
expert on the statistical analysis and computer modeling of epidemics, said two different swine influenza infection models generated on April 27 both predict about 1,000 cases in the United States within three weeks. There had been 40 cases of H1N1 reported in the U.S. as of 6 a.m., April 28, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But this is a worst-case scenario, as we are always working in a worst-case scenario setting," he said of the models performed at IU and Northwestern University. "What we are finding is that this is not a panic situation and that this thing is not ramping up in some crazy way. Right now we are confident that in the next few days things will be more optimistic." That optimism is due in part to actions taken worldwide, such as the medical alert in Mexico, school closures in Texas, World Health Organization warnings, increased controls at international airports and the availability of an anti-viral drug for treatment. He said models could change as often as every 12 to 24 hours, based on worldwide events.
Challenges facing an effective response to H1N1
David Orentlicher, M.D. and J.D., is co-director of the Center for Law and Health at the IU School of
Law-Indianapolis. He said governments can be slow to react to threatened pandemics for two reasons. First, public health departments and programs tend to be seriously underfunded, and that can make it difficult to detect public health threats early or to mobilize responses to limit the spread of the threats quickly. Second, effective public health strategies can disrupt economic activity (e.g., if travel is restricted), and governments can be reluctant to implement needed public health measures when doing so will have undesirable economic effects. Orentlicher also noted that economic considerations may drive the public to compromise the public health response. "People may find it difficult to stay home and forego wages when they may be sick or even when they are subject to quarantine," said Orentlicher. "It's important therefore to have provisions for job protection. It also can be important to have government programs to maintain people's income if they must stay home for an extended period and they don't have sick days or vacation time to fall back on."
At least three dozen cases of swine flu have been reported in Indiana. The state's medical community is on alert
Greg Steele
and watching for anyone with influenza-like illness, says Greg Steele, associate professor of epidemiology in the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Public Health. "Watchful waiting is the key," Steele said. "For the general population, wash your hands, cover your mouths when you cough and sneeze. If you or your children develop flu-like symptoms, seek medical care; do not go to work, and don't send the kids to school if they're sick." For a good description of flu symptoms, Steele points to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms.htm. He suggests reconsidering any non-essential travel to Mexico, the apparent center of the swine flu outbreak. But don't panic, and don't go to your doctor seeking antibiotics "just in case," he says. "This is a virus, and antibiotics will not work."
Steele has served as the Indiana state epidemiologist and director of the Epidemiology Resource Center for the Indiana State Department of Health. His research interests include unintentional injuries, childhood obesity and adverse health outcomes.
