Channel 4 Profiled DU Hockey's Flu Outbreak

(above) DU forward Rhett Rakhshani was interviewed about the flu outbreak that stuck the team over the past few weeks

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From: Channel 4 Website

DENVER (CBS4) ― You get it, you feel lousy -- really lousy. Just ask the University of Denver's powerhouse hockey team. At the beginning of the year, they were picked to be tops in the country, but came out slowly. You might point at the flu. About a dozen players and coach George Gwozdecky were all laid out by a cross-check hit from behind -- the swine.

It came up quickly, said captain Rhett Rakhshani, and he was in no shape to do much of anything worthwhile during practice.

"By that point I felt terrible during the workout and just had no energy," Rakhshani said.

Off he was sent to recover.

What we all want is the right stuff to help our bodies chew up the virus and spit it out. You might call it a survival kit. Coach Gwozdecky didn't have much but some over-the-counter meds and rest. He was on his back for 5 days straight experiencing something he said he's never been through before.

"The body aches and the cough and the congestion and just the energy levels were brutal," Gwozdecky said.

The energy drops as your body fights. That fever is what can really make the flu the flu. If you feel like every cell in your body hurts with the H1N1 -- or any flu, you're right. Viruses invade just about every cell, unlike bacterial infections, which typically take up residence in certain areas. Viruses are proteins that invade to live. Your hypothalamus gland responds by firing up the boilers to decrease the activity of the virus.