In Health & Fitness:

• Is that hot chocolate the barista just handed you a little too good? Our correspondent writes about her shocking discovery at Starbucks.
• The World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the swine flu, or H1N1 virus, may be easing in the northern hemisphere, though it remains a threat.
• Davidson and Cornelius parks departments are offering weight-loss challenges beginning this month – with cash prizes.

Health & Fitness

In Health & Fitness: The New York Times reports that the rules for the H1N1 flu vaccine go against all our past thinking about vaccinations.  Go to DavidsonNews.net’s Health & Fitness page for more, including information on how to register for a swine flu shot through Mecklenburg County Health Department.

Health & Fitness

H1N1 virus runs through schools, but may be peaking at college

As the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, continues to spread through local schools and workplaces, health officials are reminding residents to make sure they get vaccinated for the yet-to-appear seasonal flu. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Health Department is offering the shots, as are local physicians, grocery stores and pharmacies. (See a partial list below).

A vaccine will be available later this month for the H1N1 virus, which already has hit Davidson College (67 suspected cases) and local schools. Read the full story

By KATHERINE JOHNSON
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson College students returning to campus last week found the usual signs of a new school year – textbook sales, the annual Cake Race, and the anxious yet beaming faces of new freshmen.  But this year, there was more: hand sanitizer dispensers, face masks, and cautionary emails from school officials about the threat of the H1N1 virus.

Just a week into the semester, it’s clear it’s not just a threat: As of Wednesday, 23 students had tested positive for Type A flu, and college officials said it’s likely most are the H1N1 virus. Most years, the college health center sees no flu cases this early in the semester. Read the full story

One-third of 235 seventh- and eight-graders attending the Duke University Talent Identification Program, or TIP, summer program at Davidson College last month were sent home early with possible cases of H1N1 influenza, officials said Wednesday.

A total of 78 students left early from the program’s second term, which ended as scheduled on Saturday, Aug. 1, Kate Thomson, Duke TIP”s director of marketing and communications, told DavidsonNews.net. Read the full story