As the peak of flu season approaches, students should take more precautions in the coming weeks, health officials say.
Flu infections are expected to peak during the last week of January and the first week of February, said TJ Bucholz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health.
Normally, it is in the middle of January, he said.
"We don't really know why," Bucholz said. "It depends on the biology of the virus."
Students should take care of themselves by washing their hands with soap and water, getting plenty of sleep, exercising regularly and maintaining a balanced diet, Olin Health Center officials said.
"The fact that students live in contained residence halls, viruses can travel quickly," said Dennis Martell, Olin Health Education Services coordinator.
According to the Spring 2004 National College Health Assessment, 82.3 percent of MSU students reported getting the flu or a cold. Of those students, 26.6 percent reported the flu or cold affected their academics, the report said.
To combat the spread of the flu, the Residence Halls Association distributed about 7,000 flu kits in November, Martell said.
The kits contain literature about the flu, tea bags, cough drops and hand sanitizer. There still are 75 kits available for students in Olin's Health Education Office.
The flu vaccine is available for students in Olin's Allergy and Immunization Clinic. The vaccine will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis, said Olin spokeswoman Kathi Braunlich.
Previously, a national recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention restricted the vaccine's use to high-risk individuals because of an expected shortage. In early December, the centers relaxed the restrictions, and on Dec. 10 Olin began to distribute shots to people not at high risk, Braunlich said.
Anne Schneider, an international relations and political theory and constitutional democracy junior, works as a receptionist in Case Hall. She said she feels at risk for the flu because she comes in contact with many people.
"Everyone is so close together, it spreads," Schneider said.
If students get symptoms of the flu, they should go to Olin's Web site to find an interactive checklist, Braunlich said.
The interactive checklist will help students discern whether or not their symptoms indicate they have the flu or another illness, what they should do to treat the symptoms and if they should seek medical attention, she said.
Braunlich also said students only should treat the symptoms they have by adjusting their medication.
"If someone is taking something like DayQuil for symptoms they don't have, it's putting extra medicine in their bodies," she said.
