"Well, Carrie, you're kind of a classic case of H1N1," the doctor said.

Senior Carrie Turner, a strategic communication and French major, laughed a little as she recalled discovering she had swine flu.

"I thought it was ridiculous. Of all the people to get swine flu, you don't actually think it's going to happen to you," Turner said. "All my friends at college, I called them and was like, 'Well, I've got swine flu,' and they were just cracking up because it's a little ridiculous. All the hype about it and the publicity makes it so prominent."

In July, Turner had just returned home to San Diego, Calif., from summer session in Oxford and was three weeks into an internship with a law firm. She came down with a bad cold and kept joking with her mom that she had swine flu, but by the weekend, she was feeling better.

However, a sore throat and body aches hit hard on Sunday. The next morning, Turner's throat was so sore it felt closed in, her body ached and she had a high fever.

"I woke up almost in tears because I just felt so awful," she said.

The doctor prescribed Tamiflu to curb the flu symptoms and Turner spent the next few days in bed.

"Once I got the medicine, I get better pretty quickly. The worst part was the first three days when I was really knocked out," Turner said. "I didn't do anything. I didn't eat. I didn't have the energy to watch a movie - I just slept."

Turner missed an entire week of her internship. She didn't return until the following Monday after being diagnosed with swine flu, but she said she was feeling like herself by Saturday.

Turner had Type A influenza in January and said normal seasonal influenza and the swine flu are very similar.

"It was really just the flu, just a little bit worse," Turner said. "This one was just a little more to the extreme."

Turner is not the only Miami University student to catch H1N1. Gail Walenga, assistant vice president of student health and wellness, said it is difficult to know the number of student cases at Miami since students may go to their family doctor, the emergency room or stay at home and never come into the Student Health Services Center.

However, she estimated the number of cases health services has seen since the start of school last week is fewer than 50.

The Student Health Services Center is much busier at this time of year than usual. Nursing Supervisor Sharon Osterberger said the center's appointments are filling up earlier than normal and parents are calling to assure their students' safety.

"I have a nurse on the phone almost all day long answering questions," Osterberger said. "When not on the phone (answering questions), she's evaluating students on the phone or in person on whether they need to be seen today or tomorrow or provide self-care."

Dr. Gregory Calkins, student health services medical director, said the clinic is testing everyone they suspect has swine flu. Using a nasal swab, health services can determine whether a student has Type A or Type B influenza. Flu season is not for several months, so Calkins said Miami is presuming any Type A cases of influenza are swine flu and not ordinary seasonal flu.

"The specific test to determine positively if it's H1N1 is not generally available," Calkins said. "It's usually only at the state labs."

Osterberger added that it's not necessary to definitely determine whether or not it is swine flu as treatment is the same for both: rest, self-isolation, Tamiflu and fever reducing medications.

"If diagnosed with H1N1, they will be told to self-isolate in their room and take fever reducing medications," Osterberger said. "They should stay until their fever is 100 degrees or below without medications for more than 24 hours."

Calkins said the main difference between swine flu and regular seasonal flu is the ease with which swine flu spreads.

"It's very communicable and the original concern was that it would be like the avian flu, but those concerns haven't turned out," Calkins said. "It may even be slightly less serious than seasonal flu.

Walenga said another difference is that H1N1 affects people age 6 to 24 far more than seasonal flu. With college students living in cramped quarters, sharing drinks, typing on shared computer keyboards at King Library and playing beer pong on the weekends, there are many opportunities to spread the virus.

"Don't share things - drinks, food, milk cartons, beer cups," Walenga said. "The alcohol in alcoholic beverages is not going to kill this bug. So, thinking that you can share whatever punch concoction somebody has at their party, (it's) not going to kill it."

Walenga is part of Miami's institutional response team that monitors campus incidents and stays poised to respond to different situations that might come up at Miami's campus.

She said Miami developed a plan in 2007 to deal with a potential outbreak of avian flu that involved moving sick students out of residences halls and are modifying it to apply to swine flu.

"This disease (H1N1) is relatively mild and it can spread so quickly and to so many people that it's not practical to try and move people out, especially given our current on campus housing situation," Walenga said. "(They would) keep themselves in their dorm rooms and minimize contact with other people."

A task force with members from various departments like housing and dining, IT Services, and student affairs meets weekly to create recommendations to define how to address the situation should swine flu spread widely around the Miami community.

"CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is saying do not close classes," Walenga said. "We're asking departments on campus, 'What's the critical need? When would you determine that you don't have adequate staff to perform your function?'"

The task force should have a full recommendation to President David Hodge's executive committee by Sept. 21, according to Walenga.

Walenga described that in a worst case scenario - should 47 percent of students come down with the swine flu without adequate clinical staff to treat symptoms - Butler County or the state of Ohio may recommend closing the campus and sending home students who live nearby.

Should a worst-case scenario happen, Walenga said an essential staff of workers would report to work to provide food services and plant facility operations, but other employees might not come in, Walenga said.

"There are a variety of ways to manage a worst case scenario," Walenga said. "I don't think we're going to get to a worst case scenario because this disease is really very mild."

Walenga encouraged students and faculty to plan ahead to take care of themselves should they come down with H1N1.

"It's serious only if you don't have a plan," she said.

She recommended stocking up on Ibuprofen or Tylenol, tissues, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer and a thermometer and knowing who will take care of you or your children while sick.

USA Today reported Aug. 25 that 90,000 Americans could die from swine flu. Walenga said this figure is probably the upper outside limit and added that 32,000 to 35,000 Americans die yearly from seasonal influenza, although they are usually small children or elderly people with chronic health problems.

Turner said she never thought she was going to die from catching H1N1, and said she thinks the news media has overblown the dangers of swine flu to people without underlying health issues like severe asthma.

"How contagious it is, how it can just sweep through really quickly - that's what's so scary, not necessarily the actual flu," Turner said. "The doctor told me this is a normal flu, just like any other flu. People just haven't seen it before … people aren't really recognizing that this happens anyways and people die from influenza (every year)."

Osterberger said the student health services center started offering the seasonal flu vaccine Monday. Calkins added the clinic is pre-ordering doses of swine flu vaccine and expects it to arrive between mid-October and early November.

To set up an appointment to be vaccinated or checked for swine flu, Osterberger suggested students call the health center at (513) 529-3000.