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The following is the second chapter of FSU student Christin Foster's experience with swine flu during her recent trip to South America. The series concludes tomorrow.

Quarantine

After picking up my prescriptions from the pharmacy and Gatorade from the market, I returned to the apartment for bed rest. In order to prevent my spread of the virus, I was placed in quarantine for a week. Quarantine for me meant that I was not allowed to leave the apartment. Corinna was placed in the second bedroom in the apartment. It was determined that due to her exposure, she would either get the swine flu or not and so placing her in another apartment would not make a difference. The other two flatmates were moved into another apartment and placed in quarantine for 24 hours.

After two days on the medications, my fever had broken and I had the energy to walk around the apartment. However, my lung irritation remained. I came to learn that quarantine not only prevented me from infecting others but it also provided a better environment for my lungs to heal as the cold weather outside would have done more damage than good. All food was brought to me in the room. Corinna was kind enough to make sure that the hotel brought me breakfast in the morning and helped make sure I had lunch and dinner each day.

The program handled my illness extremely well. It not only went to great lengths to prevent other students from being infected, but also did an excellent job taking care of me. I took my final exams at a table in the apartment with no problem. Studying with the swine flu was difficult but I was appreciative to be able to finish out the program.

Typhoid Mary

I experienced firsthand the stigma associated with the swine flu. The maid service for the hotel was terrified to come to my room. Normally, the maids were required to come clean the room and bring clean towels each day. However, after I contracted the swine flu, the maids would fight over who had to come take care of my room and would sometimes just flat out refuse to come. Finally one very nice woman from the maid service either drew the short straw or decided I was not that frightening and would come take care of my room. Eventually she even showed up without the surgical mask.

My program also experienced repercussions from my illness. The day after I was diagnosed with the swine flu the program took students to ski in the Andes. There was a major debate whether Corinna should be allowed to attend. It was finally decided that Corinna, having no symptoms and being an advanced skier, was allowed to go on the trip. However, other students bombarded her with dirty looks upon entering the bus. All the students were also required to wear surgical masks on the bus to and from the mountains.

When I was finally let out of quarantine, my treatment as Typhoid Mary continued. The first morning out of quarantine I decided to venture up to the breakfast room. I sat at a table in the back corner and had Corinna get my food from the breakfast buffet in order to be as careful as possible. A few students from my program were also eating breakfast at the same time. While some were friendly and compassionate, others seemed more concerned by my presence. Instead of a warm greeting or a “how are you feeling”, I was greeted with dirty stares that said “what exactly do you think you’re doing out of your room?”

That treatment carried over to next day when I went to the business center of the hotel to check my email. The computers where located in a small back room off the lobby and each computer was placed in a little cubicle. I chose a cubicle towards the back. About five minutes into using the computer, one of the hotel managers approached me with a can of Lysol. He proceeded to not only Lysol the cubicle where I sat but me as well. Even weeks after being sick, my husband’s coworkers in Tallahassee continued to ask him if he was concerned about me returning to the US and infecting him and his office with the swine flu.

The BBC published an article called “The Etiquette of Swine Flu”, which teaches those with the swine flu and those who know someone with swine flu how to behave properly regarding the illness. I believe that it is worth everyone checking out. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8120771.stm

Tomorrow:  Argentina's Catch-22