8/31/09
To: All Faculty and Staff
As the semester begins, I am writing faculty and staff to remind you that this year's flu season involves a new influenza virus, Novel H1N1 (earlier referred to as "swine flu"). This new virus, first detected in people in the United States in April 2009, is spreading from person-to-person worldwide, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread. Human infections with the new H1N1 virus are ongoing in the United States. While most people who have become ill with this new virus have recovered without requiring medical treatment, hospitalizations and deaths from infection with this virus have occurred. People 65 years and older, children younger than five years, pregnant women, and people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, asthma and kidney disease, are generally considered to be at "high risk" in any flu season.
As there is, as yet, no vaccine for novel H1N1, infection rates are
expected to be heavier than for seasonal flu. Stony Brook University,
along with other U.S. universities and public schools are
implementing plans to deal with a surge in influenza-like infections.
To address questions that you may have, the University has assembled
a series of web pages containing information on University responses
and policies for Faculty and Staff, Students, Parents and Families.
Links to these information pages can be found at
http://www.stonybrook.edu/h1n1flu. Links to this page will also be
added to the University home page and the Human Resource Services
home page. Instructors are urged to review the "Faculty and Staff
Resources: Student Absences" page; students should be directed to
review the "Student Resources: Academics" page; and faculty and staff
should review the "Faculty and Staff Resources: Faculty and Staff
Absences" page.
Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D.
President
