Thought swine flu was gone? It’s not! And this time the infamous influenza A (H1N1) virus has struck the Washington State University campus. Although swine flu has not received any media coverage lately, WSU reported the largest outbreak of the influenza A (H1N1) virus on a US college campus with 2000 cases at the beginning of this fall semester. To help combat the health care outbreak, the university instituted a blog to update students on the dramatic spread of the infection and ways to prevent it.

The university addressed the rapid spread in their blog: “We estimate that we have been in contact with about 2000 students with influenza-like illness in the first ten days of our fall semester. At this time of year, we would typically only see a handful of patients with influenza-like illness, but we have no way of knowing how many. We also have no way of estimating how many students are self-caring at home without contacting us.”

In addition, the university is becoming proactive and distributing flu self-care kits including prevention and symptom information. Best prevention of this virus includes washing hands frequently with water and soap, covering your mouth/nose with tissue when coughing or sneezing and staying at home if you feel sick. Symptoms of the influenza A (H1N1) virus include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

WSU expects the number of swine flu cases to increase as the fall semester continues. However, they have reported that none of the cases so far have been fatal. Majority of the cases at WSU have had mild symptoms and are usually better in three to five days. The vaccination for the virus is still months away from public availability.