可怕的豬流感

豬流感，英文叫做swine flu，來到哈佛了啦>"< 會不會太可怕了，請看哈佛日報的最新消息：

大標題： Harvard Dental School Closes After Registering Probable Swine Flu Case
副標題：
Student "doing well" according to University Health Services Director; Final Confirmation Expected Tomorrow

(Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:28 PM, By NOAH S. RAYMAN and ELYSSA A. L. SPITZER, Crimson Staff Writer)

本文：
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine will be closed tomorrow after a sample collected from a student there was deemed a “probable” case of swine flu late today.


According to Director of University Health Services David S. Rosenthal ’59, state health officials are still waiting for final results from Atlanta, where the sample, originally taken on Monday, was sent to be tested at the Centers for Disease Control–currently the only facility in the country that has the capacity to issue final confirmation on swine flu.

“All I know is they have a positive culture for H1 and they sent it down to the Centers for Disease Control,” Rosenthal said. “H,” or hemagglutinin, is the protein marker that distinguishes the subtype of flu of which swine flu is a variety. Further testing is necessary for final confirmation of a swine flu diagnosis.

Final results from the CDC are expected tomorrow, according to Rosenthal. If confirmed, this will be the first swine flu case registered in Boston.

The student, who was started on anti-viral medication when flu was first diagnosed early this week, was at home and doing well, Rosenthal said this evening.

“We’re in touch with him on a daily basis and he’s being monitored closely, and he’s doing fine,” Rosenthal said.

The infected student had been in contact with an unidentified—and potentially untested—individual who had recently been to Mexico, said Rosenthal. Boston public health officials have distributed questionnaires to individuals who may have had recent contact with the student in search of other possible carriers of the virus, he said.

Over 200 students, faculty, and staff make up the Dental School, located across the river in the Longwood Medical Area, approximately four miles from the University’s main campus. Dental School affiliates are currently being screened by Boston Public Health Commission officials, according to a release from Rosenthal and University Provost Steven E. Hyman.

Harvard’s School of Public Health and Medical School, also located in the Longwood Medical Area, have taken precautions to prevent spread of the disease, which is raising health alerts nation-wide—eliminating self-service food stations to cut down on hygiene risks.

Rosenthal stressed this evening that the best way to defend against transmission of swine flu is by practicing simple hygiene. In an e-mail sent to the Harvard community earlier this week, Rosenthal and Hyman urged students to wash their hands with soap and water, and to cover their mouths when coughing.

Thus far, the only two cases of swine flu confirmed in Massachusetts remain those contracted by two boys in Lowell, Mass. who are currently recovering from the illness after a recent trip to Mexico, The Boston Globe reported yesterday.

But an update today on the Web site for Amherst College in central Massachusetts stated that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health had found that two of the school’s flu cases were “probable” instances of swine flu.

People who experience symptoms of possible influenza infection—including sudden fever, cough, muscle aches, and sore throat—were urged in a statement issued by the Boston Public Health Commission today to contact their health care providers for additional guidance.

總之：這是個疑似個案，其實他人活的好好的，隔離在家中活蹦亂跳，檢體的報告尚未出來，他會這麼倒楣是因為他最近跟一個剛從墨西哥回來的人相處了一陣子。哈佛醫學院牙醫系的學生明天停止進醫院一天。

醫學院不在我這邊的校區，在波士頓，醫院也在波士頓，不過我還是覺得好近＠＠開始可以體會當初SARS流行的時候台北人的感覺...