Every now and then I find myself thinking that I’m slightly invincible. I don’t mean that I’m naïve enough to think that I can start performing dare devil stunts and come out unharmed, but sometimes I think that it’s not possible for me to get sick. I survived 2009 without contracting Mad Cow Disease, made it through 2010 swine flu-free and I even lived through the day that the Mayan calendar predicted would be the end of the world; therefore, there’s no way that something as petty as sickness can get me. Right?
As much as I like to pretend that this is realistic and logical thinking, it unfortunately isn’t. According to flu.gov, approximately 5-20% of American residents get the flu each year. These Americans suffer from symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. Since the flu is a respiratory illness, these symptoms are highly contagious.
“I think one of the main reasons is college students live in really close quarters, and so if one student gets sick then we have to be concerned about a whole suite getting sick,” explains campus nurse Molly Wallace, on the contagiousness of influenza. “The flu is contagious one day before symptoms even start, and up to five to seven days after becoming sick you’re really contagious.”
Since we live in such close quarters in residence halls and Ouachita is such a small school in general, it is almost like being in an influenza incubator. Because of this, it is important that we as students remember the basic preventatives in order to keep us all as flu-free as possible. First, be sure to wash your hands well and often. Use the hand sanitizer dispensers scattered around campus, that’s why they’re there after all. Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough (and wash your hands after), and try to avoid eating after one another.
According to dean of students and campus doctor Wesley Kluck, the time on Ouachita’s campus when the most flu is spread is swiftly approaching: rush and pledge weeks.
“Every once in a while we have the flu in the fall semester, but usually never,” he said. “What happens is people go home for Christmas break, and someone gets exposed to the flu because they go out to thirty something states and come back. Then you start the semester again and right off the bat we have rush and pledge week. People are really in close quarters and really just right in each other’s face. That’s when it starts.”
Senior Samantha Street was a victim of said rush exposure her sophomore year.
“I’d had colds at school before, but that was the first time I was really sick,” she said. “It was in the middle of the week, and home is kind of far away so I couldn’t go home. I went straight to bed, and I think I stayed there for three days… I was sick, and it was miserable and it wasn’t a fun experience. Luckily, I had a roommate that was willing to get me medicine and take care of me, but I just had to sleep in my room and quarantine myself.”
The most recommended precaution by both Wallace and Kluck is the flu shot.
“I think that [getting the flu shot] has been proven to be one of the most effective things you can do to prevent the flu. I know that in young, healthy people the usual excuse is, ‘I’ve never had the flu. I’ve never had the shot. Why should I get one now?’ and I used to do that too. Young healthy people get the flu too. It’s not just grandma! It builds up your immune system,” explained Kluck as Wallace gave a flu shot to a student in line.
Sometimes people claim that the flu shot does not work for them, but Wallace and Kluck quickly put that idea to rest.
“If you [get sick even after getting the shot, if you] didn’t have the shot, you would’ve had a worse case,” Wallace said.
The flu vaccination builds up antibodies that protect your body from the effects of the flu infection.
If needles aren’t your idea of a good time, I fully understand that thinking. There are other options to get vaccinated besides just the shot, though. The flu mist can be prescribed by a doctor, picked up at the pharmacist and self-sprayed in your nose just as you would an allergy spray. There’s also a new vaccination that pricks the skin and inserts the inactivated vaccine into the skin rather than muscle; somewhat like a tuberculosis test. However, Ouachita’s campus does not hold these last two vaccination options.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, everyone over 6 months of age should receive the flu vaccination. People with asthma, diabetes, heart disease or other chronic sicknesses should especially. The CDC explains that people with these ailments are at the highest risk of serious flu-related complications that could even lead to death.
Even though it is easy as a college student in the Ouachita bubble to think that we are invincible against illnesses, the reality is that we are not. Going to school in the bubble actually puts us at higher risk because we are all so close to each other. In order to prevent the flu from rapidly spreading, build up your immune system by getting the vaccination. Nurse Molly gives vaccinations in the campus nurse’s office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30-12:30, and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-3:00.
Special to the Signal by Katie Vaughn.
