An Outbreak of Flu Outbreaks

San Diego State isn't the only university with a flu outbreak problem.

*By the end of January, the health center at Miami University in Ohio saw 50 cases of the flu in a day, many of whom were sorority recruits. But the bug didn't discriminate and soon spread to the general student body, wiping out the health center's supply of Tamiflu.

*At least 100 cases of the flu at the University of Mississippi prompted the school to distribute masks to prevent its spread.

*A flu outbreak at the University of Notre Dame has outlasted its typical one-week run and has also proved mostly unaffected by flu shots.

*As of January 30, Central Michigan University was diagnosing up to 15 cases a day and expecting a vaccine-resistant strain to "spread like crazy in the next couple of weeks."

*North Carolina's Department of Health reports that " 'influenza-like illnesses' accounted for 4.2 percent of hospital and clinic visits in the state last week, up from just more than one percent at the same time last year." Duke University, the University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University all experienced surges in sickness, but apparently none worse than Wake Forest, with 260 cases in a 10-day period.

*A little farther south, the University of South Carolina is experiencing the "worst outbreak of the flu the health center has ever seen," with 400 cases since the beginning of the semester. Officials from Oklahoma State University, with its more than 300 cases, are equally superlative: "This is the most influenza we've seen in students in at least 15 years."

*Kansas State, however, gets the "honor" for Most Out of Control Outbreak—with 2,000 (!!) students with flu symptoms and upper respiratory illnesses seeking treatment in just three weeks. "It is definitely more than usual." You think?

*If an epidemic of the common flu isn't enough to stress you out, Villanova officials have been treating students the past two weeks who have gastrointestinal norovirus—with symptoms that include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, and low-grade fever. Just three days after the virus first appeared, 15 students were sent to the hospital suffering from severe dehydration. Since then, 300 have been diagnosed. Oregon State also handled a milder Norwalk outbreak mid-January.

*Feeling a little sick after reading this post? Wondering what that icky feeling is? Says an Indiana University health official of students who suspect they're sick: "If they're not crawling in, they don't have the flu."