Flu Outbreak Shuts Down Albion College

ALBION (WWJ) Classes are cancelled and students are being asked to keep to their dorm rooms at Albion College after an outbreak of the flu.

College spokeswoman Sarah Briggs says 200 students have fallen ill over the past couple of days. That's about one-eighth of the student population.

"We have not actually gotten test results back yet on some samples that we have sent to a laboratory to determine what strain of the flu that this is. But, based on an evaluation by our health services staff, it does appear  to be a seasonal flu," she said.

"The number of students who were reporting illness had increased rather dramatically over the course of a couple of days, so we felt it best to go ahead and cancel classes to try to have people to self-isolate to take the precaution just to keep this from spreading any further," Briggs said.

This weekend's basketball game at the school has also been canceled.

Briggs say this is the first time that illness has closed the school.  They hope to begin classes again on Monday.

Check for updates at http://albion.edu/.