by Kathryn Muratore

As the college campuses began to populate, stories began to emerge about the high rate of swine flu among students. However, a little known fact was that most places were not actually testing for swine flu. Any student presenting with flu-like symptoms was presumed to have H1N1 because seasonal flu does not usually hit until much later in the fall.

When I heard this, I was suspicious of whether there really was an outbreak of swine flu on campus, but there was just no data one way or the other. Now there is: the world-renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia routinely tests patients for rhinovirus (the common cold) and H1N1. They found that most of their patients with flu-like symptoms had a cold, not swine flu.

But, there’s more…

Doctors and researchers are now worried that this is a new, more severe strain of rhinovirus (second verse, same as the first). It seems to me that because hospitals and doctors are seeing a rise in the number of patients with respiratory illnesses, and schools are closing due to low attendance, that the experts think this cold is more severe than normal colds.

Full article here…