Health officials combat infection

To many students, the recent string of cold-like infections and viruses is an "outbreak" and seems to stop at nothing to infect every person on campus.\nBut campus health officials say this is a normal occurrence every year.\nStill, strep throat, among other bacterial and viral infections, tends to get picked up and passed around quicker by students than a box of free pizza. \nThis has many students either coughing, sneezing or complaining about how horrible they feel. \nAccording to Dr. Hugh Jessop from the Health Center, there is a perfectly good reason for this.\n"We are getting into that window of midterm exams," Jessop said. "Students, especially freshmen, didn't plan very well and they do the nighttime study sessions or write their papers late in the evening. They get exhausted and stressed out, and this just exacerbates how susceptible they are to infection."\nSo far this year people have visited the campus Health Center about as much as last year, but trends seem to be commonplace at the center, Jessop said.\n"We get into October and our volume goes up," Jessop said. "Mondays are always busier than any other day, too."\nWith dorm-life throwing thousands of students in close vicinity of one another, air-born viruses tend to be the most common transferred diseases. Many students catch a sickness and claim to have the flu, said Jessop, but most often it is just a simple cold.\n"I have been sick pretty often lately," freshman Dave Tendering said. "I never really know exactly what I have. I just know that if someone on my hall has got it, I will have it soon enough."\nMany diseases have to do with people sharing things as well, Jessop said. Whether it is sharing a drink or a cigarette at a party, it is the quick contact that allows for just about anything to be transferred that much easier. \n"If someone coughs and then puts their hand on the basket of forks at the food court or something like that, things can spread," freshman Heather Ganyard said.\nStudents who suffer from more cold-like symptoms, such as coughing or sneezing, most likely do not suffer from strep throat, but those who have a severely sore throat, swollen tonsils, difficulty swallowing or a fever should be more cautious.\nJessop said making sure to take care of yourself and getting enough sleep can be the most effective defenses against sickness. \n"Once you have it for about 48 hours, there is no real need for the antibiotic anymore," Jessop said. "The body will take care of it itself."\n Visit the Health Center at 600 N. Jordan Ave. or contact them at 855-4011.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.