Dr. Davis Smith, Wesleyan’s medical director, will be holding an informal Q&A session about H1N1 flu.

Whether you want to know how to avoid getting it, how to treat it if you do, or what’s up with vaccine distribution, bring your own lunch and your questions!

Date: Monday, October 5

Time: Noon – 1pm

Location: Usdan 110

Come on down!

photo taken by Olivia Bartlett Drake

or view it here, if the embedded video is not working.

Don’t forget about Wesleyan’s seasonal flu vaccine clinics, coming up next week!

Click here to learn about the dates and procedures for the student flu vaccine clinic.

Clean hands can help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as flu. This podcast explains the proper way to wash your hands. 

Wesleyan Resources: Infection Control @ Wes

UPDATE: A second swine flu update was sent to the Wesleyan community on April 29.
UPDATE: As of April 30, the CDC and the World Health Organization are now referring to the new virus as H1N1 Influenza A.

CNN Health interviewed Dr. Mark Gendreau, a senior staff physician at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, who offers five simple things we can all do to avoid getting sick while traveling: 

1. Sit toward the front of the airplane

“Pick a seat near the front, since ventilation systems on most commercial aircraft provide better air flow in the front of the aircraft,” Gendreau advised. If you can afford it, sit in first class, where people aren’t so squished together.

2. Don’t drink coffee or tea on an airplane

Monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that water in airplanes’ water tanks isn’t always clean — and coffee and tea are usually made from that water, not from bottled water, according to Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.

The EPA advises anyone with a suppressed immune system or anyone who’s “concerned” about bacteria to refrain from drinking coffee or tea on an airplane.

“While boiling water for one minute will remove pathogens from drinking water, the water used to prepare coffee and tea aboard a plane is not generally brought to a sufficiently high temperature to guarantee that pathogens are killed,” according to the EPA’s Web site.

According to the EPA, out of 7,812 water samples taken from 2,316 aircraft, 2.8 percent were positive for coliform bacteria. Although that sounds like a small number, this means 222 samples contained coliform bacteria.

3. Sanitize your hands after leaving an airplane bathroom

A toilet on an airplane “is among the germiest that you will encounter almost anywhere,” said Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona who’s also known as “Dr. Germ.”

“You have 50 people per toilet, unless you are flying a discount airline; then it is 75,” Gerba said. “We always find E. coli on surfaces in airplane restrooms.”

You should wash your hands after using the restroom, but because the water itself might have harmful bacteria (see No. 2 above) and because the door handle on your way out has been touched by all those who went before you, Gendreau also advises sanitizing your hands when you return to your seat.

4. Wash or sanitize your hands after getting off an escalator

Gendreau says tests show that escalators in airports are full of germs. To confirm these tests, here’s a fun activity while you wait for your flight this Thanksgiving: Look at your watch, and count how many people get an escalator in a five-minute time period. Multiply that by 12, and you have how many people are on that escalator every hour. High-volume handrails are why Gendreau sanitizes his hands as soon as he can after he exits an escalator.

5. Wash or sanitize your hands after using an ATM

Gendreau says ATMs, especially in busy places like airports, are full of germs. As with escalators, he sanitizes ASAP after using one. 

Gendreau says that keeping healthy while traveling can be summed up in six words: “hand hygiene, hand hygiene, hand hygiene.”

Keeping your hands clean is crucial, he says, when you’re spending the day touching surfaces that have been touched by hundreds or thousands of people before you. 

read full article…

Fall and winter in New England bring many pleasures; colds and flu are not one of them. Fortunately there are many ways to help prevent getting sick this season, as well as many ways to treat yourself naturally if you do become sick. 

During this talk we will focus on ways you can optimize your immune system and overall health so that you are less susceptible (and feeling more optimal health and energy!). Some of the ways we can accomplish this are:

• Healthy Nutrition
• Stress Reduction Techniques 
• Exercise
• Proper Amount of Sleep 
• Using Nutrients/Supplements when needed 
• Using Herbs when needed 
• Using Homeopathy when needed 

We will also have time for a Q & A session on any topic you are interested in Natural Health and Wellness. 

Date: Wednesday, November 19
Time: 4:30pm
Location: PAC 001 

Sponsored by WesWELL, the Office of Health Education

A new study, discussed in Scientific American, indicates that the impact of stress may be greater on our physical bodies than previously thought, especially our immune systems.

It might seem counterintuitive, but Kiecolt-Glaser believes that stress makes our immune systems less effective because it actually elicits an immune response itself. Stress, she says, causes the body to release pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune factors that initiate responses against infections. When the body produces these cytokines over long periods of time—for instance, as a result of chronic stress—all sorts of bad things can happen. Not only does it hamper our body’s ability to fight infection and heal wounds, but chronic inflammation also increases our risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and autoimmune diseases including type 2 diabetes.

What’s more, because regular stress causes a chronic immune response, it can also increase a person’s risk for allergies, which occur when the body elicits a chronic immune response against something that’s not really dangerous (like pollen). In her most recent study, announced yesterday, Kiecolt-Glaser found that when people are under lots of stress—for instance, when they are forced to deliver a speech or do difficult math problems on the spot—their allergies worsen over the course of the next day.

Read the full article here.

Discussion Question: Experiencing stress is not inevitable; it’s about responding in a manner that helps you rather than hurts you. What small steps can you take this semester to manage your stress more effectively?

Wesleyan Resources: Stress Management

Millions of Americans took the advice to get a flu shot this season, but many are still becoming infected with the flu. This flu season is lasting longer than initially expected and has introduced unforeseen new strains of the virus, making other flu prevention steps even more important. Today, the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) and The Clorox Company launched the inFLUenza Resource Center, an online resource with tips and tools needed to help protect families and help prevent the spread of the flu virus.

“While it is important to get vaccinated to protect yourself from contracting influenza, there are many common sense actions you can take to help protect your family and help prevent the spread of the flu virus,” stated Shelley Ludwick, Clinical Director of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. “Our new inFLUenza Resource Center includes easy tips to help you protect your family.”

read full article…

Visit WesWELL’s Cold & Flu Prevention website.
Check out the online Self Care Guide for treatment suggestions.

Scientists may have found a chink in the armor of the flu virus. Their discovery may lead to new flu treatments.

Researchers today reported that in winter, even the flu virus wears a coat, and it’s a coat that helps the virus spread through the air. Tinkering with that coat might disarm the flu virus.

“Now that we understand how the flu virus protects itself so that it can spread form person to person, we can work on ways to interfere with that protective mechanism,” Duane Alexander, MD, director of the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, says in a news release.

Here’s a quick look at the new findings on the influenza virus.

read full article…