SF State now has documented cases of students diagnosed with the swine flu, but there's no need to panic.

A letter sent out to SF State faculty on Sept. 22, titled "Guidance to SF State Faculty Regarding Novel H1N1 Influenza," encouraged faculty, staff and students to practice healthy habits to prevent rapid transmission on campus.

Sent by Provost Sue Rosser and Director of Student Health Services Dr. Alastair Smith, the letter's guidance is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for college institutions in the 2009-2010 academic year. The CDC said the symptoms, transmission and severity of the flu remain similar to those of spring and summer 2009.

"I'm not overly worried. The severity is the same but it hits younger people than older," biology lecturer J.R. Blair said. "People are going to get it -- It'll run its course."

"The main thing is for sick people to stay home and rest," Dr. Brinda Govindan, also a biology lecturer, said. "The swine flu, like seasonal influenza, virus can be cleared by the body's natural immune system in a week's time."

Symptoms include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest, dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea, severe or persistent vomiting, sudden dizziness, confusion, shaking chills, cough and fever.

"I woke up one day and I felt really tired and lazy. I didn't know why I was so tired and then I started getting muscle aches," economics major Mike Brody, 21, said. "I started getting a fever in the evening. Then I went to bed and chilled in bed for a few hours. Then at 9 or 10 p.m. it started peaking -- my whole body was sweating and I had the worst headache.

"My mom was paranoid and thought I might have it, so she scheduled an appointment with the family doctor the next morning. The doctor didn't even think anything was wrong with me. I was telling the doctor it was the sickest I've ever felt in my life, so he tested me and later that night he calls back, and when my mom said, 'How are the results?' he said, 'Not good, Michael has swine flu.' It was funny but very scary at the same time," Brody said. "The doctor gave me Tamiflu and I was quarantined for a week at my house."

Brody thinks he got swine flu from an international exchange student he was staying with in Brooklyn, New York.

SF State expects to receive 2,600 doses of vaccine in mid to later October, according to the Student Health Services Web site.

The vaccine, now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been shown to produce a "robust immune response in most healthy adults 8-10 days after a single dose," according to the Student Health Services Web site, similar to what the FDA website states about the vaccine.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health plans to conduct two public vaccination clinics within 48 to 72 hours of the vaccine's arrival. It will also be available through doctor's offices and other locations like pharmacies and grocery stores this fall and winter.

No official dates or times are established yet.

People most at risk are ages six months to 24 years, pregnant women, health care and emergency medical services personnel, and those who have health issues like heart disease, repository disease and diabetes.

"We're trying to educate as much as we can. If a student comes in with a fever and has flu-like symptoms, we ask them to put on a mask in the waiting area," health educator Albert Angelo said.

The World Health Organization declared a worldwide pandemic on June 11, indicating uncontained community-level transmission of the H1N1 virus in multiple areas of the world, according to the CDC Web site.

The swine flu virus has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia, bird genes and human genes. Scientists call this a "quadruple reassortant" virus, according to the CDC Web site.

From mid-April to Aug. 30, a total of 9,079 hospitalizations and 593 deaths associated with laboratory-confirmed H1N1 virus infections were reported to the CDC.

"If a student comes in with flu-like symptoms, it's over 90 percent likely it's the swine flu," Angelo, 42, said.

In response to the H1N1 pandemic, the SF State Student Health Center is following the CDC's guidance, recommending that universities not require a doctor's note to confirm illness or recovery, according to the Student Health Service's Web site.

"Professors will be more than happy to give a make-up exam rather than have sick students come to class," Govindan said.

More information on swine flu and how to prevent it can be found on the Student Health Services Web site: http://www.sfsu.edu/~shs/.