Though the Student Health Center is still seeing a steady stream of students with classic non-seasonal flu symptoms, clinic officials have stopped testing as many cases as they had in the past.Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 12, the Health Center confirmed 362 student cases of Type A influenza. The new numbers bring the total to 681 cases since May.However, Julie Hupperich, assistant director of the Health Center, said those numbers may be misleading because clinic doctors are recommending fewer students to lab work.Hupperich said as students continue to arrive with flu symptoms, more are being treated for what is most likely the H1N1 virus without testing because the treatment is the same regardless of confirmation.”The results of the test aren’t affecting the treatment of the students,” Hupperich said.Hupperich said many of the clinic doctors have stopped testing students because negative test results have about a 60 percent chance of being inaccurate.She said though the test the Health Center uses is the most sensitive available, it has often failed to identify the virus.In the case of Taylor Brian, a Denham Springs High School senior who died Sept. 6 from complications associated with the flu, multiple tests failed to identify the H1N1 virus, according to Hupperich.Hupperich said it was hard to tell if the number of students with H1N1 is actually falling because official testing has slowed. She said August was one of the busiest months for the Health Center in her 12-year career.
 
—-Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]