Flu season has arrived on campus. Rapidly spreading throughout DePauw's community, many students and staff alike have been affected by either a stomach virus or some form of influenza.
"We've seen a lot of the stomach flu, with the vomiting and diarrhea, probably about six a day right now," Dr. Ripple of the Wellness Center said. Ripple said he's been treating most with medicine and fluids but he has had some who are unable to hold fluids and must be hooked up to an IV.
In regards to cancelling classes because of the overwhelming number being affected, the Wellness Center does not have an exact count of how many people have to get sick before cancellation is considered.
"We deal with it more on a case by case basis, depending on what we're seeing," Ripple said.
Although there have been no plans to cancel all classes, several faculty members have been sick and as a result, have had to cancel class on their own.
Three members of the English department have come down with similar cases.
"I went down on Friday afternoon -- got home, went straight to bed with chills, an insatiable lust for anything with vitamin C - orange juice, grapefruit juice, tangerines, even fresh salsa," an english professor said.
But there's more than just one illness that has been going around.
"I had five people absent from class today -- one with pink eye, one with what he called 'the campus plague,' and another with a stomach virus," said the same professor. And that's not the only department that's been afflicted.
A sophomore in the communications department, Kristen Dickman, had been sick for over 36 hours with complaints of a headache and dizziness.
"I honestly think it's been passed around at the frats," Dickman said.
Many fraternity members have experienced the flu-like symptoms.
"A lot of people in my house are sick," said a junior member of a fraternity who has been sick for nearly two weeks with fatigue, nausea and loss of appetite. "It sucks [at school] because there's the obligation to go to class. I mean I would rather go to class sick then miss work, so you just got to tough it out."
Going to class sick and being in such close proximity to one another at fraternities, sororities and dorms is one of the leading causes of the high numbers of illness going around campus.
"It been going around my dorm so I assume that's how I got it," freshman Sammi Bell, who complains of vomiting, nausea, cold sweats and extreme fatigue said.
"I left a chemistry lab early and I went to the Wellness Center today and they told me there wasn't much they could do except stay hydrated and let it takes its toll," Bell said.
Because the flu is not a bacterial infection, no antibiotics can be used to treat it and students are simply stuck waiting it out. In general, though, students are among the most resilient and likely to fight off viruses and diseases.
According to the weekly influenza report issued by the Indiana State Department of Health, there have been nine deaths this week and 56 this season due to influenza, but none have been within the age of 19-24.