Beating Freshers' Flu

The start of the academic year brings much to celebrate. Freshers’ week, meeting your resident strangers, partying the night away and returning to the old mothballs you’ve decided to move in with after surviving the previous year.  But. Fresher’s Flu strikes.

It’s a notorious feature of the first few weeks of university, nation wide, and 90% the student population are likely to be affected.

People from all over the country congregating in lecture halls, the library and Jesters (although who would be surprised if the plague was on those floors? – Ed.), in close proximity, creates the perfect incubus for viruses and bacteria.

Phlegm Dump

When you feel the tickle of a cough or a sneeze coming, do so into your elbow crease or a tissue. If you cough either onto your hands or just everywhere then people will silently hate you.

Everything you touch, anyone who touches you, will become contaminated and will spread the bugs. Put tissues down the toilet or straight into the bin.

Wash your paws

Old but gold. Each time you sneeze, cough, blow your honker, eat, go to the toilet or high-five your Freshers’ Rep, you should ideally clean your hands. Wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water and use antibacterial hand gel or disinfectant. Obsessive, but good manners.

The same applies when you have just watched the person before you sneeze and cough all over the library computer, keyboard or on the kitchen table. If the average kitchen surface has 200,000 times as many germs as a toilet seat (see here), best to go in your biological warfare getup.

Gotcha

When you cannot get out of bed, and it’s not just 9am lectures or a hangover (i.e. you really are ill), GP’s recommend staying in bed. Susceptibility to flu can also be encouraged by poor diet, stress, tiredness and too much alcohol (explains a lot).

Make sure you have registered for a GP in Southampton, whether on campus or near your house/halls, as well as made arrangements for appointments you would have to miss that day (e.g. seminars, exams, field trips, etc). 

You may be entitled to a free flu jab if you have a condition that compromises your immune system, such as Asthma. Make sure you check with the surgery whether you are entitled.

Anyone can get the flu, so look after yourselves this flu season.