Flu Information

General Information:

Rutgers University is currently experiencing an outbreak of the flu.

The flu is highly contagious illness that typically presents with rapid onset of fever (often as high as 104^o F), along with chills, sweats, body aches, fatigue, headache, dry cough, mild sore throat and congestion (not all symptoms will be seen in all patients).

Typically, young, healthy adults will run fever for 2-5 days, and miss several days of school but will completely recover.  Those with other significant health problems (eg, asthma), may have other complications.

When in doubt, Rutgers Health Services recommend that you make an appointment to see one of our clinicians.

Prevention:

• Vaccination - The best way to not get the flu is to have received the flu vaccine.  If you did not receive the flu vaccine this fall, it might not yet be too late.  The problem is that it takes about 2 weeks after receiving the vaccine before it is effective.  Thus, if you were already exposed (eg, your roommate has the flu), the vaccine would not begin to work in time. Rutgers Health Service does have the flu vaccine in stock.
  
• Stop Germs
  • Stay away, as much as possible, from people who are sick.
  • Frequently wash your hands, or use an alcohol based cleanser.
  • Try not to touch your eyes or nose.
  • If you are already sick:
    • Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and throw away the tissue.
    • Stay home (or in your room) and away from classes until your fever has broken.
      
• Medications - for those at high risk for complications from the flu (eg, bad asthmatics or other chronic medical problems), there is a medication that can be taken to help prevent the flu.  Talk to your health care practitioner.

Treatment:

• For most healthy students, no prescription treatment is generally recommended.  There are some medications that, if used within 2 days of the start of symptoms, can decrease the length of the illness by 1-2 days.  They are expensive.  Talk to your clinician to see if they may be right for you.
  
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), and other Over The Counter medications can help control your fever, body aches, and headache.

More Information:

The Center for Disease Control has an excellent website at: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Last Modified 08/30/2008