What happens if I’m a student with flu symptoms who visits the BU Student Health Center?
Students experiencing flu-like symptoms are immediately given masks when they arrive at the Health Center. Students experiencing such symptoms are offered a rapid influenza diagnostic test. If that test is positive, then the virus is almost certainly H1N1. The Health Center provider may prescribe the antiviral medication Tamiflu and instruct the student to stay in isolation for seven days after he/she first experienced symptoms or until he/she shows no symptoms for 24 hours, whichever is longer. Each student at the Health Center with a presumptive diagnosis for H1N1 flu is given a “Patient Care Advisory for H1N1” form with guidelines to help them recover quickly and prevent the spread of the virus. Although all suspected cases are treated as if they are H1N1, the BU Health Center cannot confirm that a patient has that virus. Only the Florida Department of Health’s laboratory system can confirm that a patient has the H1N1 virus, and the state has strictly limited the number of samples t
