Miami University health administrators say with diseases such as mumps, whooping cough and threats of tuberculosis breaking out at universities, they are prepared should a threat of disease occur at Miami.
This fall, with several reemerging diseases occurring on university campuses, Miami health officials have taken precautions to keep students safe.
So far this academic year, universities of Illinois, Kansas and Virginia, have experienced mumps on campus. In addition, Missouri Southern State University had 12 students test positive for the bacteria that can cause tuberculosis and one student fall ill with the disease. Cornell University and State University of New York at Binghamton reported suspected cases of whooping cough.
Three weeks ago, Miami's Student Health Services put out a notice to all students warning of mumps at the University of Virginia. The health center warned about the threat of mumps and asked students to be sure they had
all immunizations.
Greg Garnett, medical director at Miami's Student Health Services Center, said while there had been threats of disease at other universities, the health center decided it would be best to take action after learning of the disease at Virginia.
"Prior to the Virginia threat, we did not do anything because cases against Ohio schools did not exist," Garnett said.
Garnett said that while a threat still does not exist in Ohio, the Virginia incident made them concerned that the disease was more than just an isolated incident.
According to Mary Woodworth, an associate provost and professor of microbiology at Miami, there has been no explanation for why these diseases have reemerged on college campuses right now.
"We do not know why the outbreaks are happening at the moment," Woodworth said. "But it is my understanding that the majority of people are vaccinated."
She speculated that cases that have occurred could involve situations in which students were not vaccinated or the vaccines were not acting properly. If an outbreak at Miami were to occur, Woodworth said it would be important to establish whether affected students came from the same hometown. If so, that could indicate a problem with the vaccine supply in a specific area.
Garnett agreed that there is no clear-cut reason why these outbreaks are occurring now, but said college communities do present a greater threat in carrying communicable diseases.
According to Garnett, while most college students have had immunizations and are less susceptible overall to sickness, once a disease enters a college community students tend to become more susceptible due to the close quarters. He said because of the close environment students live and interact in, there is a high degree of transmission of germs.
One factor in the transmission of these diseases lies in students' care of themselves. Garnett said while students do not take proper care of themselves, there are several basic precautions they can take to prevent disease.
"We encourage students to wash their hands frequently," Garnett said. "This is where most of the contagion on campus occurs. Students also need a lot of rest and a proper diet."
Garnett also recommended students be aware of where and how they cough. He encourages students not to cough into hands as it causes hand contamination but to cough into an elbow.
This contains the cough without contaminating the area for other people.
With the health center's e-mail warning, students were asked to simply be aware of the threat of disease. Several students said they took notice of the e-mail, though it did not affect them. Junior Kate Waller said that while it is good to be aware of the threat, there is no reason for students to worry.
"Yes I believe these diseases are terrible, and I did take notice of the e-mail, but I do not think this should cause students to panic," Waller said. "The important thing is that we are aware and take care of ourselves."
So far, Miami's health center is doing what most other schools do to prepare for a threat of disease. Garnett said they have prepared for the possibility of mumps and have protocols to activate should illness affect Miami. The e-mail warning is the only action the health center has taken this fall.
"We do not review the threat of disease amongst college students as very high," Garnett said.
