The flu bug has bitten Blacksburg football players hard this week while preparing for Friday night's game against Southside Christian.

Blacksburg had 17 football players miss practice on Monday with the flu. There were nine players absent Tuesday.

This has left the coaching staff concerned about the health of their players headed into the season's first home game Friday at 7:30 p.m.

"It's been tough preparing to play a game when we are missing half of the football team because they are home sick with the flu," Blacksburg Head Coach Mickey Moss said. "We have several players who won't be able to practice until Monday. At this point, we hope we will have enough healthy players for the game."

It's unusual for students to be sick with the flu this early in the school year. The first flu cases normally do not occur until mid- October.

"The kids that have the flu are getting the Type A strand, which is not typically seen during the flu season. This is the same flu strain as the H1N1 virus so we are treating it as if it is the swine flu," Blacksburg High Principal Jim Touchberry said. "We are really disinfecting areas of the school, particularly the locker room areas. It seems to be better. We hope more students will be healthy on Friday." Often called swine flu, it is a unique version of the flu virus which surfaced in South Carolina for the first time in April.

The symptoms of the H1N1 virus in people is similar to the regular flu. These symptoms include coughing, fever above 100 degrees, body aches, loss of appetite and lack of energy.

Nearly every county in South Carolina has reported at least one case of the novel H1N1 virus.

The number of people who have tested positive for this new strain of flu represents a small fraction of people who have been exposed to the novel H1N1 flu virus or have become ill, said Jim Beasley, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Instead of individual cases, Beasley said the health department is focusing more on investigating local outbreaks of the flu and education efforts to prevent the spread of the flu.

"The flu is still the flu. It is only receiving additional attention at the moment because there is a new strain out there," Beasley said. "We are taking steps to slow the spread of the flu and are encouraging people to take good common-sense steps to protect themselves."

Methods to help prevent speading the flu include regular handwashing, plenty of rest, healthy eating habits, covering your mouth when you cough, and staying home if sick.

The regular flu vaccine will be available at the end of the month through local health care providers.

Drug makers are working to develop and test a two-dose vaccine for novel H1N1 flu. If approved, the series of shots will protect people against both the seasonal flu and the novel H1N1 flu virus.

The H1N1 vaccine is expected to be available by mid-October, Beasley said