H1N1 vaccine soon offered to students
Making sure Franklin students can receive the H1N1 flu vaccine is a primary goal of Johnson County health officials.
"We have been talking with the college for the past several weeks to work together as a partnership on the vaccination. We know the college groups are in the priority list that we want to vaccinate and the college has been wonderful," said Paula Mandel, the director of nursing at the Johnson County health department. "Whatever we can do we want to do."
Statewide, four Hoosiers have died from the strain of flu, formerly known as swine flu, since April. The state Department of Health tracked the number of cases until August. H1N1 has now spread to all 50 states.
"Indiana is actually not reporting numbers of outbreaks anymore," spokeswoman Melissa Dexter said, "mostly because our numbers just weren’t accurate. Most of the influenza A that is circulating is most likely H1N1."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there are three types of influenza, A, B, and C. Type A influenza is further broken down into subtypes including H1N1.
Mandel said her department can’t track the number of cases, mostly because doctors are treating many flu patients like they have H1N1.
"Back in April we were watching numbers very closely, but as of now, we are not looking at numbers," said Mandel.
"If someone presents flu-like symptoms, we can pretty much assume it is H1N1 just because we haven’t seen the regular flu season start yet, and H1N1 has not gone away."
Joe Stuteville, a spokesman from the St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis said it has a procedure in place for possible H1N1 patients.
"If someone were to come to the emergency room and is suspected of having a seasonal flu, particularly H1N1, they would be isolated," he said. "All of the waiting areas have supplies such as disposable masks and hand washing products for all patients and visitors. We are very proactive in preventing that sort of thing since flues are almost always airborne."
Stuteville said St. Francis will offer the vaccine once it becomes available.
