Miami Quarterly

Issue date: 10/19/09 Section: Scene

For an entire week in September, Miami University senior Kyle Moler was isolated in his room, sleeping and watching TV.

 He had fallen victim to swine flu, officially known as the H1N1 virus. Moler's highly contagious case of the H1N1 virus began with a fever of 102 degrees followed by spouts of coughing.

 It all started after Moler went to a party. "The next day I had a cough and first assumed I was hung over," Moler says. Upon arriving at Student Health Services (SHS) but without being given an official H1N1 test, he was diagnosed with swine flu.

 "Do I have the regular flu?" he asked.

"No, the swine flu is the only flu going around right now," Moler recalls a doctor saying.

Swamped with sick students, SHS began diagnosing any patient with swine flu-like symptoms with H1N1.

Despite being told he had swine flu, the university didn't give Moler medication until his mom called and got him a prescription to Tamiflu. Before that he had only been advised to drink lots of water and to take Tylenol.

"We save (Tamiflu) for people who are severe cases," says Dr. Gregory Garnett, staff physician at SHS.

Dr. Greg Calkins, medical director of SHS, explains why. Giving students unneeded flu medication can "influence the mutation of the virus if the cases are not severe enough."

Then there's junior Daniel Caproni, whose September H1N1 case was also unconfirmed. He developed symptoms during Labor Day when SHS was closed for the weekend. Although never officially tested, his hometown doctor prescribed Caproni.

 He says his symptoms included a fever of 102.4 degrees, headaches, coughing and vomiting.

Both Moler and Caproni were confined to their rooms for the duration of their sickness until each made a full recovery.

Moler's biggest problems were uncontrollable shaking for five minutes straight and sleepless nights filled with a high fever and sweating.

"The worst part is being locked in your room," Moler says. His roommates insisted he didn't go near them. When diagnosed with the virus, Moler called and told his brother he had H1N1 to avoid using the more common slang term.

However, before he was sick, "I called it swine flu," he admits. As for Caproni, he says one friend would come to his door to bring him food and then run away to avoid catching the flu.

Another housemate wouldn't let him borrow his thermometer because he was afraid of contracting the virus.

"I think … I picked up the regular flu from a girl who sits next to me in class … and that made me more susceptible to (getting) swine flu," Caproni says.

Concerning speculations that school might shut down, Garnett says Miami will most likely never close because students sent home would most likely just spread the flu.

 According to Calkins, the university considered this scenario before classes started.

"The way it stands now, (shutting down campus) is very unlikely," Calkins says. "It would be (likely) if a significant number of faculty, staff and students got it (at the same time)."

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