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Less than two weeks into the semester, more than 250 students at the University of Maryland, College Park, have come down with flu-like symptoms, and university officials are working to combat what could be the spread of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

As of Wednesday, 256 students had visited the university's health center with swine flu symptoms such as coughing, a sore throat and runny nose since the first day of classes on Aug. 31, according to university spokesman Neil Tickner.

The health center has suspended non-emergency health services through Friday and is advising sick students to skip classes and, if possible, recover at home. Thus far, the university has not canceled any classes or taken other emergency precautions.

"We're in an institutional setting, so this type of thing can spread quickly," said health center director Dr. Sacared Bodison. "[But] we're not anywhere near that point right now."

None of the cases has been tested or confirmed as swine flu, and health officials have been instructed to offer treatment without tests in most cases, according to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

State officials do not expect traditional seasonal flu cases for another few weeks, so current flu cases are more than likely H1N1, said Fran Phillips, DHMH deputy secretary for public health services.

"That's the most common flu strain that's circulating in Maryland," she said. "We have seen massive numbers on some campuses [in other states]."

The traditional seasonal flu typically does not affect students this early in the school year, Phillips said.

One such case was at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., where about 2,000 of the university's 21,000 students have reported swine flu symptoms in the past few weeks. The virus hasn't appeared any more severe than the traditional flu but has spread in alarming numbers.

"The bad news is that this virus appears particularly contagious," Phillips said. "Fortunately, we haven't seen deaths of H1N1 in college-aged people."

Steve Glickman, president of the Student Government Association at Maryland, praised the university's effort in getting the word out. He said students were well aware of the situation and that a friend of his recently wore a surgical mask while living with a sick roommate.

"Everyone's taking pretty good precautions," Glickman said. "There's a lot of preventive measures around the university [such as masks at the health center and hand sanitizer in public places] to help us with it."

Phillips said there have not been a sufficient number of swine flu cases among college students to accurately predict its severity or recovery time, but she warned that students with prior health ailments like asthma and diabetes are particularly susceptible.

"As a nation, we just haven't had that much experience with this particular virus among college-aged students," she said. "There's still another chapter to be written for sure."

E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.