It is the flu season’s peak time and fevers, coughs, sneezes and worse are all appearing.

While the traditional advice of covering your mouth when coughing and washing your hands regularly still stands, doctors urge everyone to get their flu shot because this flu season has been worse than most.

Student Health Services Nurse Practitioner Linda Hollis said this year has been particularly difficult because of a virus strain that was not included in the flu shot. Because of this, there is a chance that even though a person received a flu shot, they will become ill with the new strain.

“We’ve had three to four confirmed cases of the flu,” Hollis said. “Each year, the viruses have their own pattern. H1N1 (swine flu) started as early as August, and sometimes cases occur during the regular January and February season. We are waiting on a second wave to hit us.”

While the Center for Disease Control (CDC) says the vaccine is only 60 percent effective, it still lowers the risk of contracting the flu during its peak, generally January and February.

Because the flu is a viral disease and not a bacterial infection, antibiotics are rendered useless. The best way to cope with the virus is to get plenty of rest, drink clear fluids and take advantage of nasal decongestants.

“Wash your hands and get a flu shot,” Hollis said. “The flu shot is the first line of defense, but it all depends on how the virus mutates.”

According to the CDC, between 5 percent and 20 percent of the United States’ population will contract some strain of the flu each year. Some of those cases will be fatal. Many remember the 2009-2010 flu pandemic when the strain H1N1 killed over 12 thousand people nationwide. The vaccine this year continues to protect people from swine flu and other traditional flu strains.

The CDC recommends all people over the age of six months to get a flu shot. New strains of the flu can mutate at any time as it adapts to new vaccines, but the shot has proven to be the most effective way to protect oneself from this year’s flu virus. Still, some students feel the flu shot is unnecessary.

“It seems that instead of preventing the flu, it makes people get it,” senior Marit Hellman said. “My grandma used to get the shot, but she swore it actually made her have worse flu symptoms than if she just caught it naturally,”

Nursing major Anthony Enriquez said that the shot itself couldn’t make people sick because it is a dead virus.

“The vaccine can take up to two weeks for the body to create antibodies,” he said. “It does not work immediately. If exposed to the virus before the antibodies are created, the individual will get sick. It is not living and therefore will not cause an individual to get sick.”

Some students like Enriquez have vowed for the alternative to the flu shot, a nasal mist that can be inhaled instead of given through injection.

“It’s the same thing as the shot,” Enriquez said. “I got the FluMist because of a flu shot shortage.”

Enriquez was required to get some sort of flu vaccination in order to complete his clinical education in the nursing program.

Other students like former WSU graduate, Gabby Brandt, said that it’s all a matter of how people take care of themselves as to whether they will get sick. Brandt works as the director of special events at Botanica and chose to opt out of the flu vaccine.

“I came in contact with over 40,000 people, opened countless doors, handled money, hot chocolate machines, and supplies from tons of children, I was also out in the cold much of the time, and I didn’t get sick once,” she said. “I attribute my not getting stick to washing my hands regularly, taking vitamins, drinking lots of fluids and getting a lot of rest.”

Enriquez said that the best way to prevent any illness is proper hygiene, get enough sleep and eat properly.

Hellman and Brandt were healthy all winter without the protection of a flu shot. At the end of the day it is at the discretion of the individual.

“When they invent a patch to help ward off the flu, I’ll wear that,” Brandt said. “Until then, I’ll take my chances.”

Students like senior Brandon So were not as lucky. He said the worst part was not being able to get rid of it with antibiotics, and having to sit around being miserable. In his lifetime, So said he has gotten the flu about three times.

“The flu is definitely not a fun thing to have, but it is a part of life that we just have to deal with,” he said. “To stop the flu would be like stopping bad guys committing crime. It just won’t happen.”

If students think they may have a strain of the flu, Student Health Services sees students for $6 per visit, and provides a flu care-package in the event a student is diagnosed with influenza. These packages have items like tea, soup and information about the virus. To make an appointment, students can call Student Health Services at (316) 978-3620.