Current Conditions
31°F - M/CLOUDY
(842) (640) (67) (51) (49) (5)
And, as of last week, there were at least 22 likely cases of influenza on campus. The college officials are "assuming people with typical symptoms of influenza this time of year have the H1N1 virus," one official said.
Updated figures weren't available, but the 22 cases had been reported to the college's Appel Health Services as of Sept. 4, according to an article in The College Reporter, the F&M student newspaper.
Dr. Marianne Kelly, the school's health services director, told the student newspaper that this time of year isn't often associated with the more common seasonal flu.
F&M students with no underlying medical conditions who experience flu-like symptoms can contact Appel Health Services, the campus health provider, at 291-4082.
As the new school year begins, schools are hoping to limit and contain the H1N1 virus. At the same time, government and health officials are trying to make a vaccine against the swine flu available by early fall.
With students among those at increased risk of getting swine flu, colleges here and across the nation have been planning fast.
At F&M, as at other schools, hand-sanitizer dispensers have quickly been installed around the campus.
F&M has established an information page on the H1N1 virus, at www.fandm.edu/swineflu.
E-mail: doconnor@lnpnews.com
