CSUN University News Clippings

CSULB may have swine flu case

(April 30, 2009)

Long Beach Press Telegram
By Kevin Butler and Kelly Puente
Published: 4/30/2009
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A Cal State Long Beach student living on campus has received a “probable positive” test for swine flu, prompting the city to declare a local health emergency, officials announced Wednesday.

City and university officials said it may be two days before lab tests can confirm whether the female student, who lives in the Los Alamitos Residence Hall, has contracted the virus that has infected nearly 100 people in the United States.

The undergraduate student, who fell ill Sunday and has not attended class this week, is staying by herself in a room in another dorm while she recovers, said CSULB spokeswoman Toni Beron.

“The student is doing well,” Beron said. “She has a mild case. She is doing very well. She is in good spirits.”

The city of Long Beach on Wednesday made a local health emergency declaration in response to the “probable” test.

A declaration allows the city to request the release of a local stockpile of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu to treat those who may be affected, city officials said.

The declaration also is needed to request reimbursement from the federal government, officials said.

The ill student, who is being treated with Tamiflu, now has her own bathroom to use exclusively, Beron said.

She is staying in a room that does not share
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ventilation with other rooms, she added.

After the student showed symptoms of the disease at a student health clinic on Monday, a biological sample was collected and sent to the city health department for testing, Beron said.

The student’s roommate immediately was advised to stay elsewhere on campus as a precaution, Beron said.

The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services contacted CSULB officials late Tuesday about the “probable” test.

University staff sanitized and disinfected the student’s room, hallway and the communal bathroom she had been using, Beron said.

CSULB early Wednesday morning notified students in the resident hall and then all students and employees about the incident, Beron said.

“I think that at this point and time we need to remind people that they need to be aware of the symptoms of swine flu, that they are very much like a regular, seasonal flu,” she said.

Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, with some people also experiencing diarrhea and vomiting, according to federal health officials.

“So if they have any of these symptoms, they need to seek medical attention,” Beron added. “They need to not come to class or to work.”

People should also be practicing good health habits such as frequent handwashing and avoiding coughing or sneezing into hands, she added.

The university has established a hot line, 562-985-1460, and later today will be posting health information and campus updates on its Web site, www.csulb.edu, Beron said.

The city also has set up a public health information line at 562-570-4499. Information is also available online at www.longbeach.gov/health or at www.cdc.gov/swineflu.

On campus Wednesday, many residents of Los Alamitos Residence Hall could be seen wearing surgical face masks that the university had made available at the student health center.

Second-floor Los Alamitos Hall resident Giovanna Gomez said that she lives a few doors down from the student, whom she described as a freshman who had been feeling ill since Friday.

“She was up in the bathroom coughing all weekend,” said Gomez, a freshman.

Melanie Peinado, also a freshman who lives on the second floor, said that news of the incident has been upsetting to those in Los Alamitos Hall.

“Anybody who has like a little cough has been paranoid,” she said.

Some of the residents whose families live locally are now staying with parents as a precautionary measure, according to Los Alamitos Hall resident and freshman Irina Chirken.

“I don’t know what I would do if they evacuated students because my family lives in Northern California,” she added.

People knocked on the residents’ doors around 7 a.m. Wednesday to inform them of the situation, students said.

At the student health center Wednesday afternoon, CSULB senior Rosio Zarate said that she was aware of the incident when she was sitting in class earlier next to a male student who was coughing frequently.

Zarate said that she told the student about the flu and reminded him that coughing was one of the symptoms.

As a precaution, she later went to get her temperature taken at the health center, where she saw the same student she had warned earlier also being examined.

Her temperature was “well under 100,” she said.

“I feel much better now just knowing.”

Publication: Long Beach Press Telegram