The next time you go to the Tiger Den, you may want to think twice about sharing a drink with the person sitting beside you.
According to the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, influenza activity in the Memphis area begins as early as December and runs through March.
With the flu season upon us, this is the time when University of Memphis students, faculty and staff should take advantage of Student Health Services, known to most as the Health Center.
“When the year started off, there was a very high number of students coming to the Health Center,” said Jacqueline DeFouw, health educator at The U of M. “Now, I think some have forgotten that we are here for them and that our services are free.”
The Health Center, which averages 80 patients a day, is currently treating students with sinusitis, allergy, viral cold and flu symptoms.
A few symptoms of the flu include a sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, general muscle aches and a dry cough.
As it progresses, a sore throat develops along with a stuffy, runny nose and a productive cough. A person is most likely to infect others during the 24 hours before symptoms develop. However, that person remains infectious for up to seven days after symptoms appear.
On December 11, 2001, the Health Department received another shipment of flu vaccines, making immunization against last year’s flu strain available at all eight health department and immunization clinics in the Memphis metropolitan area. The cost for the immunization shot is $13.
The U of M Health Center offers the flu vaccine to students for $10.
The flu vaccine can significantly reduce the risk of complications from the virus for those individuals at high risk. Annually, an average of 20,000 deaths nationwide are associated with influenza. During the 1999-2000 flu season in Shelby County, eight deaths were attributed directly to influenza, and over 600 people died from pneumonia, one of the major complications associated with the flu.
“We didn’t have many students taking advantage of the vaccinations at first,” DeFouw said. “We didn’t know when the next shipment was going to come in. When it did, around the middle of November, there was a good turn out.”
The Health Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., throughout the year. For more information call Student Health Services at 678-2287.
