Collegiate Times

Today, the Schiffert Health Center is sponsoring the Intravene fall immunization program. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Squires Commonwealth Ballroom, students, staff, faculty and anyone from the community can get the featured influenza, or flu, vaccine as well as a number of other immunizations such as the meningitis, tetanus, hepatitis and other shots.

No appointments are necessary and fees are payable by cash, check or major credit card.

"It's good to be vaccinated against all of these diseases because we want to stay well and be able to participate in our daily activities," said Shelby Davis, registered nurse and nursing supervisor for Intravene. "To me it's an easy way to get protected from all of these viruses and infections that are traveling around."

Davis said Intravene is a company based out of Lynchburg. They offer a travel clinic that makes stops across Virginia and at college campuses to offer several immunizations in one location so people do not need to go from place to place to get various vaccines.

Jeannie Baker, quality improvement coordinator for Schiffert Health Center, said the flu is caused by a virus and, contrary to popular belief, cannot be fought with antibiotics. This is why the vaccine is so important.

"The flu peak season is usually from January to February," Baker said. "If you go back over the years, you'll see that it usually starts in October and ends in March."

Baker said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines people as having the flu if they have the following symptoms: a fever of 100.5 degrees, a cough and/or a sore throat. However, other symptoms are an achy body, a headache and/or a runny, stuffy nose.

At Schiffert, patients are treated based on each symptom that they present.

While there is no cure for the flu virus, Baker said that there are many ways to prevent getting the flu, such as decreasing stress, having good nutrition and always covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing.

"If you touch an inanimate object like a handrail, and you touch your face or nose, then you can transmit the virus from that object to yourself," Baker said. "It can be one to four days before you develop symptoms, but you can still pass on the virus to others. That's why you should always cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze and follow good hand-washing methods."

For those who do have the flu, Baker suggested avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and increasing the intake of fluids.

Chris Roberts, associate professor of virology, said that the flu virus is always an issue because it changes and adapts to the vaccine.

"(The flu) is predominantly an issue because the vaccines that we currently have developed are specifically targeting those strains circulating at a given time," Roberts said. "It mutates quite rapidly meaning that this year's vaccine may no longer be representative of those strains circulating next year."

Flu vaccines are changed or updated on a yearly basis, depending on the strains predicted to be circulating in the population at that time.

However, the vaccine is not an end-all-be-all temporary cure to the flu. Some people still get the flu after they've had the vaccine. Roberts said this is because there are many different strains circulating at one time.

"The vaccine typically given is a trivalent vaccine that protects against two different strains of influenza: influenza A, which is pretty much the primary flu causing strain, and a related virus called influenza B," Roberts said.

The common type of vaccine administered is the inactive or subunit vaccine, which is given in the arm.

"This basically induces the production of antibodies in the body that are specific to those strains of viruses and they provide protection against getting the disease," Roberts said.