Employee Illness
What If I Have Been Exposed to Someone with the Flu?
Or I am Sick with a Flu-Like Illness
1. Employees and patients should be considered infected with
an influenza-like illness if they are experiencing symptoms
which are similar to seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore
throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and
fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected
with novel H1N1 flu virus also have reported diarrhea and
vomiting.
2. Employees who work at the UConn Health Center and are
experiencing these symptoms should not report to work. The usual
“call out” system should be used.
3. The Infection Control Committee is recommending that we
follow the CDC Guidelines addressing the amount of time that
persons with an ILI should not report to work.
- The CDC recommends that people with an influenza-like
illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they
are free of fever (100° F [37.8°C]), or signs of a fever
without the use of fever-reducing medications. View the
Infection Control Guidelines to learn more.
4. Persons at ongoing occupational risk for exposure (e.g.,
health care personnel, public health workers, or first
responders who are working in communities with influenza
outbreaks) should carefully follow guidelines for appropriate
personal protective equipment. Efforts to reduce the risk of
exposure or infection for healthcare personnel should include
appropriate administrative controls (e.g., having health care
personnel stay home from work when ill, and triaging for
identification of potentially infectious patients), cough and
hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, and vaccination
when available.
5. Instances of influenza-like illness will become more
prevalent in the community and the hospital as the flu season
evolves. Employees who have had unprotected close contact with
someone who has an nfluenza-like illness should call their
primary care physisican for consideration of antiviral therapy.
* Per CDC Recommendations
Close contact, for the purposes of this document, is defined as
having cared for or lived with a person who is a confirmed,
probable, or suspected case of influenza, or having been in a
setting where there was a high likelihood of contact with
respiratory droplets and/or body fluids of such a person.
Examples of close contact include sharing eating or drinking
utensils, physical examination, or any other contact between
persons likely to result in exposure to respiratory droplets.
Close contact typically does not include activities such as
walking by an infected person or sitting across from a
symptomatic patient in a waiting room or office.
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