During the illness’s peak in September, Student Health Services staff sent as man as 15 students a day home. The clinic has not sent a student home during the past week.

“We were seeing as many as 100 students in the clinic a day the second week of September,” said Alice Loper, Director of Student Health Services.

Students began coming to the clinic with flu-like symptoms Aug. 25, just nine days into Fall 2009 Semester.

The heaviest send-home days were Mondays. Symptoms included fever, cough and congestion, aches and nausea.

Still, the campus does not have a confirmed case of the H1N1 Swine flu.

“None of our students were tested for the H1N1 virus,” Loper said. “But it’s still too early in the year for an outbreak of seasonal flu. By the time flu-like illness began occurring on campus, no confirming testing was being done for H1N1 flu at the state level. According to our physician consultants and the CDC, flu-like illness seen during this time was assumed to be H1N1 flu since it is not yet time for seasonal flu.”

The campus-wide, clean-hands campaign, “Protect – Don’t Infect,” played a role in the containment of the illness, Loper said.

The university armed classrooms, restrooms and other public areas with anti-viral hand sanitizers and provided students with germ-free wipes in the computer labs and in Wellness Depot. Student Health Services has placed banners across the campus asking students to protect themselves and others.

“The key to preventing the spread of germs is clean hands,” Loper said. “Most students have been conscientious in reducing their risk to the virus.”

But, Loper urges students, faculty and staff not to become complacent. A second wave of the flu outbreak is predicted for later this fall.

“Get your flu shots,” Loper said. “We administered more than 975 seasonal flu vaccines during September and have more on order, but supplies are low due to the manufacturing of the H1N1 vaccine. We also are expecting our first doses of the H1N1 vaccine recommended for all college students. We will start giving those vaccines as soon as we receive them. We’ll let students know when the vaccine arrives. And it’s OK to take both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines at the same time.”

For more information on the flu or available vaccines, call Student Health Services at (478) 445-5288.