One in every 50 people, or one in every carriage on a Copenhagen S-train. This is the number of people now infected with the swine flu virus, the H1N1 Influenza A. The University Post met a student who had the flu, but who is now luckily free of the symptoms.<\/p>\n
Eydna Skaale (28) got the Influenza A virus symptoms in her native Faroe Islands, and was not allowed to return to Copenhagen to take her exam.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI was just going home for the weekend, where I am from, and was sick from Saturday to the following Friday,\u00ab Eydna says.<\/p>\n
She missed one exam in Rhetoric as well as a preparation meeting with her student advisor. <\/p>\n
\u00bbMy son got sick as well, and I took him to the doctor, where we both got the virus confirmed,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt started with a really sore throat, then I got a high fever and my whole body was aching. I also threw up and had a bad cough for three days or so,\u00ab she explains.<\/p>\n
It was around this time – 10 November – that the Danish Ministry of Health confirmed that H1N1 was spreading in Denmark. She could therefore not return to Denmark during her period of illness.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI didn\u2019t get medication, but my son did, as he\u2019s in the high-risk group,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n
Edyna has luckily been able to take her exam this week.<\/p>\n
Edyna is one of a swathe of students who have been struck down by the feared illness.<\/p>\n
MD Steven Glismann, a specialist in public health at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), points out that it is not possible to know what the exact number of infected persons is in real time at the university. <\/p>\n
\u00bbThe data is stratified into gender and age but not into employment or other categories, so we would not be able to say anything about the burden of disease among students,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n
The influenza spreads with droplets from person to person, so the infection rate at working places where people are close to each other would be expected to be higher than other places.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably heard it before, but good hygiene may be alfa and omega, especially at the University.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThe risk of infection depends on things such as hand and \u2018sneezing\u2019 hygiene. Also, do people attend work, university or school with symptoms? And what is the age distribution? The risk of getting infected early in the epidemic is higher the younger you are,\u00ab Glismann explains. <\/p>\n