90% of Southampton students have the flu :: Wessex Scene Online

90% of Southampton students have the flu

18th November 2003
Lizzie Bailey

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THE Wessex Scene found that Southampton University is being engulfed by a tremendous wave of illness. Our poll found that of the 50 students interviewed, 90% were suffering from cold or flu symptoms. This mass sickness is causing disruption to lectures and seminars throughout the campuses.

The Common cold is the most widespread viral infection in the world and yet remains an incurable illness.

Breathing in virus particles that infected people have breathed out spreads the Common cold, The University Health Service informs. In a university community of over 20,000 students it is not surprising that so many are suffering with cold-like symptoms with ‘a greater number of different infections passing across a huge number of susceptible people’.

Every year the university community suffers from this fast spreading virus (often mistaken for the Flu), the University Health Service seeing a ‘huge number of people’ in October and November who are suffering with a stuffy nose, sore throat and sneezes. Lecture sizes diminish and are plagued by sniffles and coughs as students living in this close living and working environment struggle to avoid contamination.

Advice to cold sufferers centres on helping the ‘internal doctor’ (the immune system) fight the virus and remain strong. The University Health Service recommends a balanced diet; plenty of (alcohol-free) drinks to replace lost fluids and plenty of sleep to reenergize your body and help your immune system.

Not all of the student lifestyle needs to be put on hold when suffering from a cold, curries are highly recommended for helping to boost the immune system. Filled with vitamins and minerals curries are great for relieving congestion and easing that groggy feeling!

Research into the Common cold has not yet uncovered the key to prevention or cure and so, given that on average each person spends between two and three years of his life with a cold, the cold will remain a way of life for the foreseeable future.

The University Health Service notes that it is important to remember ‘that the early symptoms of meningitis are similar to Flu symptoms, and the critical difference is how quickly things get much worse. If there is a rapid and worrying deterioration within one hour, call your GP or NHS Direct (0845 4647) for advice.’