Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Jessie Deflorio Loyola Health Center's Tawanda Tilghman gives a Loyola student a flu immunization shot.

The time of the year has come, while as you sit in class at Loyola College, you might not be bombarded by the professor's questions and lectures, but rather an onslaught of fellow students' coughs and sneezes throughout the entire classroom. A sniffle here, a cough there, the flu is out and it is worse than usual this year.

With the influenza season in full swing nationwide, Loyola College is at its peak for flu cases.

"It is said that after the first positive influenza case, the number of cases reaches its peak in two weeks," said Assistant Director of the Loyola College Health Services, Patti Oswald. "Our first positive case was about two weeks ago, so we are at our peak."

The Center for Disease Control reported last week in their weekly report for Feb. 3, that there is a continued increase of influenza activity in the United States. The number of specimens tested positive by U.S. World Health Organization and the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System in that week alone reached 1,538. Specifically the Mid-Atlantic region is reported to have an elevated percentage of cases with 14.4 percent positive for influenza A or B. Out of the three jurisdictions to report flu activity, all have reported regional or widespread activity.

The timing of the flu hitting the Evergreen campus is no surprise, as the Baltimore Sun reported last week that the city's hospitals have been hit very hard with the number of patients infected with the flu.

The Loyola Student Health Center has reported nearly 30 positive cases of the flu from students with many coming in with the usual symptoms of fever, tiredness, muscle aches, headaches, and chills.

Nurse Practitioner at the Health Center Vicki Lentz sees most students coming in very shortly after the onset of symptoms.

"Most students get the symptoms and get an appointment with us that day," Lentz said. "They usually come in the first few days of symptoms which helps us treat them. If past the first few days of symptoms, the medication prescribed cannot work as well."

The Health Center reports that they administered 520 flu shots to both faculty and students this year, advertising the immunization clinics on the Loyola homepage and Facebook. There still remains around a dozen immunization shots available at the Health Center and the staff urges all students to get one with the season still in full swing. The flu season can last for many months, and with this season being worse than normal, some reports are calling for it to end past March or April.

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