Scott McPherson's Web Presence

Christin Foster is a law student at Florida State University (go 'Noles!). I had the good fortune to meet her recently at one of my H1N1 presentations. Actually, I met her mother first, at a presentation I was giving for a group of state agency inspectors general and auditors. Her mother asked several very good questions and then reaffirmed to the group every statement I had made about the then-still-developing situation in Argentina. How did she know so much about what had gone on there, I asked? because her daughter had caught swine flu there, she responded.

The next day, I was giving another presentation, this time to the local Certified Public Managers meeting. Following the presentation, Christin and her father came up and introduced themselves. Again, she indicated I had nailed it perfectly on the situation in South America with swine H1.

Christin began telling me aof her experience. I asked herif she had written a journal of her ordeal, and she said she would be happy to write a narrative of her experiences.

What follows is a series of her journal entries. I will post portions of her writings daily, over the next three days. It gives a much-needed perspective on how other nations are handling - and not handling - the still-young H1N1v situation.

I have changed and edited nothing. Sit back andread aboutthe swine flu experiences in South America of Christin Foster.

Summer in South America

My first year of law school at Florida State University College of Law had just come to an end. I decided to study abroad for the summer on American University Washington College of Law’s Summer Chile Program. The program focused on international trade and human rights law and split time between Chile and Argentina. I chose this program for a few reasons. First, I love Argentina. I was an exchange student to Buenos Aires in high school and have returned to visit almost every year for 9 years. I have maintained a close relationship with my host family in Buenos Aires and Malaly, my host “sister”, remains one of my best friends to this day. Second, I am interested in international law and a professor at FSU Law recommended that I attend a program that focuses on international law for the summer. Third, American University Washington College of Law is highly ranked for international law and the Summer Chile Program is well established. The summer program was wonderful. However, I came to learn almost as much about public health in South America as I did about law.

The first two weeks of the program took place in Santiago, Chile. We stayed in a hotel called Renta Home, which provided two bedroom apartments where four students could stay. We were supposed to be taking our law classes at the University of Chile Law School but students were holding a strike at the school, which made it impossible for us to hold classes there. Instead, we took classes at a university called Diego Portales, which was another law school in Santiago. We took classes there for a week until a few cases of the swine flu popped up at the law school. For liability and safety purposes, classes were moved to a conference room at Renta Home.

The third week of the program took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We stayed in the “microcentro” or downtown of the city and took our classes at the beautiful and prestigious University of Buenos Aires College of Law. The week in Buenos Aires was wonderful. The program allowed us enough free time to really explore and enjoy the beauty of Buenos Aires. This also provided me with plenty of time to spend with Malaly and her wonderful family. I spent almost every afternoon with Malaly and had a great week. The night before returning to Chile for the final week of the program, I went out for dinner and drinks with Malaly and her friends. She and I now believe that we were infected with the swine flu that evening.

Swine Flu

The first morning back in Chile I woke up with lung pain. It felt as though my lungs were irritated and it hurt to breathe. I made the assumption that my lung irritation must have been attributed to the exposure to the high volume of second-hand cigarette smoke in Argentina, as smoking is culturally accepted in the country. With no other symptoms, I carried out my day in Santiago as usual.

My roommate, Corinna, and I went to the gym about five blocks from the hotel. Due to my lung discomfort, I opted to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes rather than do any strenuous exercise and then took advantage of the gym’s great shower facilities. I thought that the steam might help alleviate the pain in my lungs. It did not.

By 6:00pm a fever and body aches had started to set in. I was unable to eat dinner and crawled into bed at 7:30pm. The body aches and chills grew more severe as the night went on. Most of the night was spent in complete delirium. I estimate that my fever reached 104 degrees. I spent part of the night lying on the tile floor of the bathroom to try to keep cool. The fever and body aches were so intense and caused me to be so weak that it was an arduous task to open a Tylenol Cold & Flu packet.

The next morning showed more (of) the same: lung pain, fever and severe body aches. I made an effort to shower and go to class, unaware how sick I really was. However, I was unable to stand for more than a few minutes at a time, which eliminated my plans for the morning. I crawled back into bed and was awakened by Corinna returning from breakfast with one of the program coordinators. Corinna and I were given surgical masks, put in a cab and taken to the hospital in Santiago. Corinna was included in the hospital visit because of her exposure to my illness.

Clinica Aleman was a nice hospital in Santiago. The waiting room of the ER was full of people wearing surgical masks. I later realized that most of the people in the waiting room also had the swine flu. I only had to wait about 10 minutes before being called back into a room. The doctor came in, took my temperature, which was still around 102 degrees, and listened to my lungs. He then proudly announced, “esta chica tiene la gripe porcina,” which was my official diagnosis of swine flu. I immediately responded, “QUE!?” I was completely shocked that I had somehow contracted the swine flu, but the doctor confirmed the diagnosis.

The concern then became Corinna’s and my other two roommates’ exposure to my virus germs. The doctor recommended quarantine for 24 hours for Corinna and the other roommates and stated that if they did not come down with symptoms in that time that they were in the clear. The doctor then prescribed strong painkillers for my fever, an expectorant to help my lungs, Tamiflu and bed rest. I was sent out of the room to wait with the other gripe porcina victims in line for the Tamiflu.

Fortunately, due to Chile’s good health care system, the whole procedure in the hospital took roughly an hour and only cost $100.

Tomorrow:  Quarantine.