A strain of swine flu has killed 149 people in Mexico and infected 42 people in the United States as of Monday nigh, prompting an e-mail from Syracuse University Health Services to the campus community.

Onondaga County and Health Services have reported no cases of the swine flu in the area, though they said they are monitoring the situation thoroughly.

Cortland County public health officials are investigating a possible case but will not know until test results become available Tuesday or Wednesday, The Post-Standard reported.

James Jacobs, director of Health Services at SU, sent an e-mail to students reassuring them that the situation was being watched carefully. All students with flu-like symptoms at the university clinic are being monitored, he said.

Jacobs said the university has a task force in place and a number of contingency plans ready should state advisories require them. Such contingency plans could include restrictions on travel and university business in Mexico, quarantines and other directives from state authorities.

‘Things are changing so rapidly right now,’ Jacobs said. ‘We can’t tell you what will happen, but at this point, primarily we’re watching and ensuring that the expectations of state and federal government are being met and being prepared to act on more difficult issues if this were to progress.’

Jacobs said symptoms tend to be typical of seasonal influenza, which include fever, sore throat, headache, body aches and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.

He said as of now it’s hard to evaluate the severity of the problem.

‘It’s too early to know,’ he said. ‘People are dying from this illness in other parts of the world, but it’s been relatively mild here.’

While seasonal flu typically kills the old and very young, the new flu has infected a number of young adults whose healthy immune reactions ‘overwhelm them,’ according to the New York Times.

Jacobs said the spread of swine flu is similar to seasonal flu and students should follow simple prevention techniques, including washing hands, avoiding touching the face, covering mouth and nose while sneezing, and staying aware of advisories as they come out.

Despite China and Russia banning imports on pork, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said pork consumption has no link to the virus.

Out of the 42 confirmed cases in the United States, 28 are from the same high school -St. Francis Preparatory high school in Queens, N.Y. St. Francis is the largest Catholic school in the nation, with 2,700 students.

Kristyn Lao, a public relations and psychology senior at SU, graduated from St. Francis in 2005. The school closed Monday and Tuesday in response to the outbreak.

‘It’s kind of a shock and it hits so close to home because it was my high school,’ Lao said. ‘You don’t know how far the flu epidemic is going to carry, and it just seems so all of the sudden.’

In addition to the 20 confirmed swine flu cases reported in Mexico and the 149 deaths, Mexican officials said there are at least 1,600 additional suspected infections. Most swine flu viruses occur in people with direct pig contact, but the virus has mutated and is now transferable between humans, the New York Times reported.

A quick response to the flu from the Mexican government, the U.S. government and SU could be due to excessive planning that went on for the avian flu, a more lethal but less transferable virus.

‘A tremendous amount of effort at both corporate local and national levels has gone into planning for pandemic bird flu,’ Jacobs said. ‘Responses to the current relatively mild swine flu are giving all of these organizations, including our own, the opportunity to exercise those plans. In a way, it’s giving us some practice for more serious problems.’

jmterrus@syr.edu

Published on April 27, 2009 at 12:00 pm