{"id":604,"date":"2018-02-14T02:48:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T02:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-services\/?p=604"},"modified":"2021-06-24T02:49:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T02:49:06","slug":"health-alert-influenza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/2018\/02\/14\/health-alert-influenza\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Alert: Influenza"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Inserted by Dropdownizer plugin. Forces video embeds contained in dropdowns to have a size --><style>.dropdownizer__dropdown iframe { width: 100% !important; height: 100% !important; }<\/style>\n<p>The Influenza season started early this year and has rapidly become widespread with high numbers of flu cases currently being reported in the U.S, New York State and Dutchess County. In view of the steady increase of this viral illness throughout the region the Health Service is sending out this notice to the Vassar community to highlight the preventive measures we can take against the flu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the Flu?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses, which causes mild to severe illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms are very similar to that of a cold but with a high fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, muscle\/body aches, headaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How does the Flu spread?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flu Viruses mainly spread through tiny droplets made when people with the flu cough, sneeze, or talk. The droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spread can occur by someone touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Can We Prevent Flu from Spreading?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the Influenza virus is spread by droplets created by coughing or sneezing, or unclean hands it is important that you practice&nbsp;<strong>cough etiquette<\/strong>&nbsp;and pay attention to&nbsp;<strong>good hygiene practices<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cover coughs and sneezes (droplets can travel up 6-8 meters and stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Never cough or sneeze into your bare hand. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing and sneezing, or cough\/sneeze into your elbow crease instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put your used tissues in a waste basket, not your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth to minimize spread of germs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wash Your Hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wash your hands frequently in order to prevent spreading germs to the surfaces that you touch especially after coughing or sneezing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wash your hands with soap and hot water, make sure to wash between fingers and scrub for at least 20 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carry a 70% alcohol based hand rub (hand sanitizer) to use when soap and water are not available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects that maybe contaminated with the germs like the flu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Please call the Vassar College Student Health Service to request an appointment or speak to a health care provider if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms: 845 437 5800<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Treatment\/Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fluids<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Medication for fever<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are at high risk for a flu complication, get a medical evaluation for possible treatment with flu antiviral drugs (Tamiflu), which work best within 48 hours of when symptoms start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Try to avoid close contact with people who are ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While sick with a flu like illness limit contact with others for a least 24 hours after the fever is gone (without the use of fever reducing drugs) except to receive medical care or for necessities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Protection against exposure\/illness:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the flu vaccine is not perfect it is still the best way to prevent getting sick from flu, so we urge you to get a flu shot if you have not already done so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Please call the Health Service at <a href=\"tel:+18454375800\">(845) 437-5800<\/a> to schedule an appointment for a flu shot at your convenience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the flu you can go to the CDC webpage to this link&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">www.cdc.gov\/flu<\/a>&nbsp;.&nbsp; You can get valuable information from this article in the New York Times&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/01\/12\/well\/live\/flu-h3n2-virus-care-remedy.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/01\/12\/well\/live\/flu-h3n2-virus-care-remedy.html<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Remember: Prevention is the most effective strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Posted on\u00a0<time datetime=\"2018-02-14\">Wednesday, February 14, 2018<\/time><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Influenza season started early this year and has rapidly become widespread with high numbers of flu cases currently being reported in the U.S, New York State and Dutchess County. In view of the steady increase of this viral illness throughout the region the Health Service is sending out this notice to the Vassar community to highlight the preventive measures we can take against the flu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/health-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}