Swine flu rate increases 15% on college campuses

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The pandemic H1N1 influenza virus continues to spread on college campuses, with 7,696 cases reported in the week of Sept. 12-18. The infection rate was 24.7 cases per 10,000 students, a 15% increase over the previous week’s rate, according to the weekly report of the American College Health Assn. About 91% of the 267 colleges and universities reporting to the group said they had new cases last week. There were 10 hospitalizations and no deaths. Cumulatively, there have been more than 21,000 cases and 37 hospitalizations reported to the agency. The highest rate of activity remains in Washington, although rates there are now clearly decreasing. The Southeast also shows considerable disease activity, although there were decreases in Mississippi and Tennessee. There were significant increases in disease activity in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Rocky Mountain regions, but little on the West Coast other than in Washington.

-- Thomas H. Maugh II