There have recently been reported cases of the virus acquired in south Florida and continued cases of travelers from Florida acquiring the virus in other countries.

Common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, with conditions lasting up to a week. Brazil has reported an increase of birth defects related to the virus, and there are currently no vaccines or medicines to treat the disease.

The Health Department advises these precautions to reduce mosquito bites:

-Drain standing water to stop mosquitoes from breeding

-Wear protective clothing when mosquitoes are present

-Cover doors and windows with screens

-Use Environmental Protection Agency-registered insect repellants, which are evaluated for safety and effectiveness

-Use a mosquito net when sleeping outside

-Treat clothing with permethrin or buy permethrin-treated items

Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant should consider postponing travel to any area where the Zika-virus transmission is ongoing. If they must travel to one of these areas, they should talk to their doctor first and follow steps to prevent mosquito bites during the trip.

For more information on Zika, visit or .

Anyone with additional questions may also call UCF Student Health Services at 407-823-0838.

UCF’s 7th-annual Drug Take Back Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Student Union.

The event, led by the UCF Police Department and Student Health Services in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, gives people an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by properly disposing of potentially dangerous drugs.

The service is free and anonymous, and pills, inhalers and ointments are welcome. Pet medication also will be accepted.

The event leads up to the DEA’s national Prescription Drug Take Back-Day Saturday, April 30. UCF will host the event early to accommodate students’ schedules. UCF Police will store all the turned in drugs until the DEA picks them up.

In previous Take Back events nationwide from 2010 to 2014, 4,823,251 pounds– or 2,411 tons– of drugs were collected.

The initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.

Rates of prescription drug abuse and accidental poisonings and overdoses in the U.S. are alarmingly high, and studies show that a majority of these drugs are obtained from family and friends.

The DEA will incinerate all collected items, which is the safest way to destroy expired or unneeded drugs, keeping them out of the hands of abusers and protecting our waterways and landfills.

UCF regularly collects unwanted pills and patches at permanent drug take-back boxes located on the first floor of the Student Union and in the pharmacy of the Health Center. UCF Police collects items from the boxes and stores them until they are picked up by the DEA.

For additional information about the DEA initiative, including other local drop-off sites, visit .

There have been no reported cases of the virus acquired in Florida, but there have been cases of Florida travelers who have acquired the virus in other countries.

Common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, with conditions lasting up to a week. Brazil has reported an increase of birth defects related to the virus. There is no vaccine or medicine to treat the disease.

The Health Department advises these precautions to reduce mosquito bites:

Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant should consider postponing travel to any area where the Zika-virus transmission is ongoing. If they must travel to one of these areas, they should talk to their doctor first and follow steps to prevent mosquito bites during the trip.

For more information on Zika visit  http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/zika-virus/ or .

For a list of countries and territories with active Zika virus transmission visit .

Anyone with additional questions may call UCF Student Health Services at 407-823-0838.

The story focused on the economic changes shaping Orlando and the role UCF is playing with its community partnerships and innovation. The reporter talked about the tech and gaming industry and UCF’s contributions there, as well as the growing health-sciences cluster anchored by UCF’s medical school.

The story also mentioned about how UCF is a hot place for college-bound students.

“You can talk to high school seniors anywhere in the southeast and UCF is where they want to go to school,” said Warren Miller, a freelance journalist interviewed in the story. “Orlando is perceived as being a hot place to go to college.”

To listen to the story, click .

“We think it is important to keep the smoke-free policy visible” said Samantha Spiers, president of SHAC. “This is a fun event that allows students to show their support for a smoke-free campus.”

The four students collecting the most cigarette trash will be awarded $50 gift cards to Barnes and Noble. To participate, students should check-in at the smoke-free tent on the Student Union patio between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. that day to pick up their supplies. Students return their collected trash to the tent where it is recorded by volume and then disposed of by Environmental Health and Safety. All participants will be given UCF smoke-free T-shirts, and the four winners will be notified the next day for prize pick up.

The smoke-free policy, which went into effect August 2012, bans smoking of any kind on campus. Since UCF went smoke-free, Valencia College, Florida State şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and Seminole State College have also joined the more than 1,514 universities and colleges in the nation with smoke-free, or tobacco-free, policies in place. When UCF made the change, all out-door cigarette butt receptacles on campus were removed. Mary Schmidt-Owens, co-chair of the UCF Smoke-free Committee, said that keeping the receptacles would have sent conflicting messages, so it was decided to remove all receptacles on campus.

“We have stayed in close contact with the staff members at Environmental Health and Safety, and they report that cigarette trash is down from what it was pre-policy implementation,” said Schmidt-Owens. “The Health Center continues to offer smoking cessation support to all students, faculty and staff who are interested in quitting. New classes are starting all the time.”

For more information, call 407.823.2701 or visit: .

Some activities will include “Love Your Body through Exercise” yoga and cardio dance classes, a panel on body image concerns and eating concerns across cultures, a meet and greet with therapy dogs to provide unconditional love, a healthy eating cooking demonstration, as well as a workshop promoting self-acceptance and how to seek help for eating concerns.

Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors are a common problem on college campuses all over the country. They affect both men and women of all backgrounds and identities. They cause people to overeat, under-eat, exercise excessively, and/or utilize extreme methods to facilitate weight control, which can lead to medical complications. The guilt and feeling of shame associated with these issues often prevents people from seeking help.

Schools across the country are dedicating time to this sensitive issue in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. UCF is committed to increase awareness, offer support and provide treatment options to those dealing with eating concerns.

“NEDA Week is an opportunity for students to come together and build a culture of self and body acceptance on this campus,” said Susan Tweeten, CAPS coordinator of the events for the week. “We also want to make students aware that if that if they are struggling with eating or body concerns, there is help for them here at UCF.”

The week events will be hosted by a collaboration of Student Development and Enrollment offices including Counseling and Psychological Services; Health Services; Wellness and Health Promotion Services; Recreation and Wellness Center; and the student organization, Project Heal.

For a schedule of events, see the event flyer located at .

The mock trial will begin at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union. The event is free and open to the public.

The trial will feature testimony, cross-examinations, instructions from the judge and a jury decision. Student actors as well as professionals from campus and the community will play different roles.

A panel discussion will follow the trial. Panelists will include local defense attorney Richard Hornsby; Jamie Owen, UCF Student Legal Services; Janice Ruschak, UCF Women’s Health Clinic; Christine Mouton, UCF Victim Services; and Ofc. Pete Stephens, UCF Police Department.

The event is sponsored by UCF Victim Services and UCF Student Legal Services.

“We started seeing flu cases around late August, which is earlier than you would typically expect,” said Karen Yerkes, nursing manager at UCF Health Services. “We also made flu shots available earlier than we ever have before, around late September, so that our students could protect themselves.”

UCF Health Services is a flu sentinel site, meaning it collects samples from those with flu-like symptoms, and gets confirmation from the state lab on the strain of flu present. This information is used by the Florida Department of Health, which collaborates with scientists across the nation to predict the most common flu strains so that they are included in the flu vaccine.

Flu is highly contagious and spread via droplets (such as sneezing) or by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching your face. If you catch the flu, expect body aches, coughing, runny nose, fever and chills lasting a few days up to two weeks. The good news is that you can prevent the most common strains of the flu by getting a flu shot each year. Flu season typically runs from October to April, with most cases being reported in February.

Yerkes said now is the time to get a flu vaccine because it takes two weeks after getting the shot to become fully immunized.

“Last year, the most common strains of flu were the ones included in the flu vaccine,” Yerkes said. “It’s too early in the season to comment about this year’s vaccine matching the most common flu strains, but it’s predicted to be very similar to last year.”

Health Services has made a number of changes over the years to increase the number of students getting a flu shot. This includes making the shot free for all students, hosting walk-in flu-shot clinics inside the health center, as well as mobile flu-shot clinics at various locations on UCF’s campuses to make it as easy and convenient for students as possible. Everyone 6 months and older should have a flu vaccine every year, not only to protect themselves, but also to protect loved ones. Those under 6 months and those over 65 are at greater risk for complications associated with the flu.

The Health Center offers free walk-in flu shots for students Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or check for a schedule of the mobile flu-shot clinic.

For more information about the flu and flu vaccine, visit the Orange County Health Department’s website at www.orchd.com.

UCF Police and UCF Health Services will partner to collect expired, unwanted or unused prescription or over-the-counter drugs as part of an anonymous, no-questions-asked national effort to curb drug abuse and safely dispose of unneeded medicine.

UCF’s fifth drug take-back event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, leading up to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Prescription Drug Take Back-Day on Saturday, Sept. 27.

UCF will host the event at the John T. Washington Center Breezeway a few days before the national take-back day to accommodate students’ schedules. UCF Police will store all the turned in drugs until the DEA picks them up Saturday.

No needles will be accepted, but pills, inhalers, liquids and ointments are welcome. Pet medication also will be accepted.

The DEA will incinerate all collected items, which is the safest way to destroy expired or unneeded drugs, keeping them out of the hands of abusers and protecting our waterways and landfills. In total, the DEA’s drug take-back events have collected more than 4.1 million pounds of pills.

The initiative is important because medicine that sits in home cabinets is subject to misuse or abuse, which is why organizers suggest cleaning out your medicine chest at least once a year.

UCF regularly collects unwanted pills and patches at permanent drug take-back boxes located on the first floor of the Student Union and in the pharmacy of the Health Center. UCF Police collects items from the boxes and stores them until they are picked up by the DEA.

For additional information about the DEA initiative, including other local drop-off sites, visit .

If your answer is “Yes,” UCF wants them. But the university won’t ask any more questions about them.

UCF Police and UCF Health Services will partner to collect expired, unwanted or unused prescription drugs as part of an anonymous, no-questions-asked national effort to curb drug abuse and safely dispose of unneeded medicine.

UCF’s fourth drug take-back event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, April 24, part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Prescription Drug Take Back-Day, which will be held Saturday, April 26.

UCF will host the event at the John T. Washington Center Breezeway a few days before the national take-back day to accommodate students’ schedules. UCF Police will store all the turned in drugs until the DEA picks them up Saturday.

No needles will be accepted, but all over-the-counter and prescription drugs are welcome, including inhalers, liquids and ointments. Pet medication also will be accepted.

The DEA will incinerate all collected items, which is the safest way to destroy expired or unneeded drugs, keeping them out of the hands of abusers and protecting our waterways and landfills.

Last October, the DEA collected more than 647,000 pounds of prescription drugs at 5,683 sites. In total, the DEA’s drug take-back events have collected more than 3.4 million pounds of pills.

The initiative is important because medicine that sits in home cabinets is subject to misuse or abuse, which is why organizers suggest cleaning out your medicine chest at least once a year.

UCF regularly collects unwanted pills and patches at permanent drug take-back boxes located on the first floor of the Student Union and in the pharmacy of the Health Center. UCF Police collects items from the boxes and stores them until they are picked up by the DEA.