Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during an Outbreak of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection at a Large Public University, April-May 2009

Abstract

Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as home isolation, social distancing, and infection control measures, are recommended by public health agencies as strategies to mitigate transmission during influenza pandemics. However, NPI implementation has rarely been studied in large populations. During an outbreak of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) virus infection at a large public university in April 2009, an online survey was conducted among students, faculty, and staff to assess knowledge of and adherence to university-recommended NPI. Although 3924 (65%) of 6049 student respondents and 1057 (74%) of 1401 faculty respondents reported increased use of self-protective NPI, such as hand washing, only 27 (6.4%) of 423 students and 5 (8.6%) of 58 faculty with acute respiratory infection (ARI) reported staying home while ill. Nearly one-half (46%) of student respondents, including 44.7% of those with ARI, attended social events. Results indicate a need for efforts to increase compliance with home isolation and social distancing measures.

Willingness to Receive the Influenza A(H1N1) Vaccine and its Determinants among University Students during the 2009 Outbreak in Turkey

“…The level of knowledge about the symptoms of the disease was not good enough, except for high fever and fatique. Hand washing was the most reported measure like other studies, although Griffiths et al showed that student responsiveness to H1N1 pandemics and sensitivity towards these measures like hand washing may differ from country to country [11][12][13]. However, there was an approximately 5.0% antibiotic usage for both groups, which is not appropriate.…”

Perception of the A/H1N1 influenza pandemic and acceptance of influenza vaccination by Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 staff: A descriptive study

“…6 A number of studies have investigated the perception of the A/H1N1 influenza as well as the attitudes and factors influencing the pandemic influenza vaccine in the general population 7-10 and healthcare workers, [11][12][13][14][15] but few studies focused on university staff. 16,17 In the context of a pandemic situation in France, we conducted a study among university employees in October 2009, at the start of the pandemic vaccination plan.…”

Demographic distribution and transmission potential of influenza A and 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 in pilgrims

“…The demographic variables that could affect the distribution of influenza A infections in populations are gender [16][17][18][19], age [15], clinical signs [20], vaccination against flu [21], usage of antimicrobials [22,24], smoking habits [25,29], and ethnicity [30,31].…”