• Art Jahnke

    Senior Contributing Editor

    Art Janke

    Art Jahnke began his career at the Real Paper, a Boston area alternative weekly. He has worked as a writer and editor at Boston Magazine, web editorial director at CXO Media, and executive editor in Marketing & Communications at Boston University, where his work was honored with many awards. Profile

Comments & Discussion

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There are 23 comments on Dental School Resident Recovering from “Probable” Swine Flu

  1. Harvard dental school closed down when they got a probably case. Why not BU dental? That’s putting a lot of students at risk, in my opinion.

  2. I have 2 very small children at home, and can’t risk the “probable” exposure to the virus. Obviously, Harvard is taking this virus seriously, I think BU dental school should do the same.

  3. I agree with the first comment. Many of my friends, co-workers and faculty members don’t feel safe going to work or school. BU should close and clean down the school for a few days.

  4. BU Is handling this situation extremely poorly in my opinion. One email sent from BUSHS is not enough to calm any nerves, one from the Dean would be better suited.

    In addition, if I thought I had a life-threatening contagion, there is no way in hell I’d ever venture to SHS, after the countless misdiagnoses, two of which have landed me in the ER.

  5. the sky is falling!

    “Harvard dental school closed down when they got a probably case. Why not BU dental? That’s putting a lot of students at risk, in my opinion.”

  6. in accordance with recommendations from the Boston Public Health Commission.

    We’re not really asking BU to shut down the Comm. Ave campus due to a probable case of a non-life threatening flu virus 3 miles away on another campus, are we?

  7. I had an appointment scheduled for tomorrow at 9am and I didn’t even know the Ortho School was closed this week. No one from the office called or anything. How Poor is That!

  8. H1N1 is not that threatening. At about less than 10% death rate, there is no need to panic. Just stay calm and go to a doctor if you feel sick. Do what you have to do as usual.

  9. The whole worry about Swine Flu is overblown, just like the bird flu a couple of years ago. More people die from the regular flu in a day than have died from this new flu. Furthermore, the strain found in the US is weaker than the one in the rest of the world. Sure, we should be careful, but the paranoia is really excessive, especially in the US.
    McBride sounds like he’s handling the situation the way it should be handled – as a serious problem, but not something worth shutting down a whole campus over.

  10. Dear “BU is handling this” — I am on the MEDICAL campus, in fact about 2 feet away from the Ortho Clinic, for your information. My friends are BU dental students. Serious or not, I sure as heck don’t want to get the flu!

    And um, to “H1N1 is not that threatening”–a <10% death rate is still pretty significant. Would you like to be one of the people who does die from it--or even has to be hospitalized from it? I don't think so.

  11. To all the people that are downplaying swine flu as not that serious, I’d like to see your reactions when someone you know, or yourself, actually GOT swine flu. I bet you’d be a lot more concerned.

  12. I think that BU is dealing with it very poorly as well. More info should have been sent out the moment it was discovered, not the next day. We should have recieved a letter from the dean or the president informing us. I found out from the Boston Globe YESTERDAY.

    I agree in that school should have been canceled or at least more precautions should have been taken. There is no way of knowing who the student had contact with since APRIL 27th and where they have been.

    Am I surprised how BU responded? No not at all, this is typical that all other schools take many more precautions than BU.

  13. For all those who are complaining over a lack of email from the Dean, the President, the Mayor or whomever, the medical campus students DID receive an email from the MEDICAL CAMPUS Dean informing us of the situation, as well as informing us what departments will be closed (ie the orthodontic clinic), and what remains open (ie everything else). For those on the main campus, unless you were one of the 12 patients, or 15 residents who were treated by this potentially infected student, which none of you are, there is no reason to start pulling your hair out over this. Have a little faith that the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and…wait for it…PUBLIC HEALTH might actually know what they are talking about in terms of dealing with any possible contamination.

  14. BU wont close the entire BUSDM campus! Come on guys! This is BU we’re talking about. They’d rather throw us under a bus, than lose a penny. Freakin’ BU

  15. i think bu should take this alittle moore serioously. close down and not take for granted that it is undercontrol.it could be u who is infected next,.

  16. So, I have pretty much gotten anything and everything that has gone around this year, and now of course the swine flu hits BU. I mean how are we supposed to feel safe if they have contacted the patients and residents and asked them if they are sick? How do we know who those people have contacted and how far it could have possibly spread? I know the medical campus is away from the Charles River Campus, but it’s not that far. I’m just saying if it’s at BU and I get sick and THIS is the only warning I’ve gotten, I am going to be infuriated with this school. I can safely say that I don’t always read BU Today and I’m sure many others are the same. There ought to be a message from SHS or, like others have stated, the dean or something that will get everyone to pay attention and take precautions.

  17. To be honest, if this didn’t occur during finals i would rather get the virus because then i can show everyone a week later that it was really nothing. Most of the people that have died don’t have health care or refused to do to the hospital for payment reasons. If this sounds like you then you should be concerned, otherwise it’s just another flu.

  18. Today, Wed. I have an appt. on the 2nd floor of the Dental Schoo. I have been recovering from a near-death experience for the last 8 years. Should I go?

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