Hillsdale College Nurse Carol Drews confirmed that multiple students on campus have contracted the influenza, though she cannot determine how many.
“This year, the flu is especially virulent,” Drews said.
In Hillsdale County, there have been 12 confirmed cases of the flu and one death. A 6-year-old girl passed away on Dec. 24, 2012 — one of four pediatric deaths in Michigan.
But there have been more than 145 cases of individuals with “flu-like symptoms” who were not tested, said Theresa Christner, health education and promotion director at Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency.
This flu season reached epidemic level the first week of 2013 when the flu caused 7.3 percent of all deaths in 120 major US cities, slightly above the Center of Disease Control’s epidemic threshold of 7.2 percent. This percentage increased to 9.8 percent from Jan. 13 to 19.
Christner said that incidences of the flu appear to have “peaked” in the community.
“We are starting to see a decrease in [incidents of illnesses] and emergency room visits attributed to flu,” she said. “Flu tends to peak in December and it settles down. There could be another peak in February and March. We just don’t know yet.”
But Drews has begun preparing for a second peak among students and others affiliated with the college.
“The flu season peaked in the community after Christmas,” she said. “But because students are all coming back from across the country, we are anticipating a new peak.”
This year, Drews said, she has administered more than 330 doses of the flu vaccine. About 80 percent of the shots have gone to students. Even so, hundreds of students have not been vaccinated.
“Many people have the theory that ‘Oh I’m young and healthy and I’ll be fine.’ The concern is that everybody experiences the flu differently,” she said. “The flu destroys the protective surface layer in the lungs. People are prone to pneumonia the week after.”
The vaccine is injected by what Drews described as a gentle spring-loaded shot. It causes antibodies to develop about two weeks after administration. The seasonal flu vaccine protects against three influenza strains: influenza A viruses, influenza B viruses, and H1N1.
“It’s an inactivated virus. It will trigger your immune system,” Drews said. “It’s impossible to get the flu from the shot.”
Each year, scientists from organizations like the CDC predict what viruses are trending around the globe. Based on their prediction as to what will likely cause outbreaks in the U.S., they formulate the next year’s vaccine, Christner said.
“This year’s vaccine was 62 percent effective against the viruses circulating. This is a very typical year,” Christner said. “That 62 percent doesn’t mean you won’t come down with it. It just means you won’t have to go to the doctor with the flu.”
“I’ve done the research, attended conferences with epidemiologists from National Institutes of Health, and CDC,” Drews said. “I trust the vaccine and I give it to my family.”
Some students do not want to receive the shot. In a Collegian survey, 65 percent of 318 students surveyed said they will not get a flu shot.
Some students worried at the safety of the vaccination while others wanted to strengthen their immune systems without the shot.
“Given the arguments on both sides, I don’t like the fact that the government and the media are pushing so hard to get people vaccinated. It also bugs me when they use stories of people dying to scare you,” one student commented on the survey. “Because of this, the repeated emails from the Health Center also annoy me,
although I should probably just stop being a grouch.”
Though flu season seems to be slowing in Hillsdale, local churches are continuing to take precautionary measures. Hillsdale Church of the Nazarene canceled a Sunday service a few weeks ago. St. Anthony of Padua Parish complied with the Hillsdale Community Health Center request to suspend serving sacramental wine out of a communal cup.
Pastor Jason Mekelburg and leaders of College Baptist Church decided to cancel children’s church to help prevent children from passing the flu to each other.
“We knew of three families that attend the church that had the flu in their house. Little kids mouth toys and don’t wash their hands well. Things like that makes kids pass it on,” Mekelburg said. “If we need to, we’ll cancel children’s church again.”