At least 10 players on the University of Wisconsin football team have come down with flu-like symptoms, head athletic trainer Denny Helwig said Tuesday evening. Other reports put the number much higher, possibly in the dozens.

Helwig said it hasn't been confirmed whether any of the players has become infected with the H1N1 virus (known as swine flu), which has swept through the UW campus in recent days and also affected student-athlete populations in large numbers at Mississippi and Washington State.

All UW players and assistant coaches were made off-limits to reporters during Tuesday's scheduled media access session.

UW coach Bret Bielema spoke after practice and said he didn't know if he'll have a full team for Saturday's game against Fresno State at Camp Randall Stadium.

"We have to approach our daily preparation the same way we approach Saturday," Bielema said. "If your number is called and put in there, then you've got to perform."

Asked how many football players have been affected by illness, Helwig said the number of players is in the "low double-digits." Helwig said symptoms include fevers over 100 degrees, sore throats and body aches.

Bucky's 5th Quarter blog reported that the number of infected players may be closer to 30 players, citing a source close to the team that identified Garrett Graham, J.J. Watt and Gabe Carimi among the ailing.

Brian Wozniak, a freshman tight end for the Badgers, posted on Twitter shortly after noon that "45 uw football players out due to swine flu symptoms ... oh boyyy."

Following Saturday's 28-20 win over Northern Illinois, Carimi told Bucky's 5th Quarter he was battling a bad cold and had slept 13 hours the night prior to the game.

"I had the shivers and was sweating profusely," he told the website. "It was one of those nights where I was constantly pulling the covers over me and then off again."

As The Capital Times reported earlier today, University Health Services "saw nearly 200 students with flu-like symptoms from Aug. 31 through Sept. 5." The report says recent lab work "indicates the vast majority of those students have the H1N1 virus."

Helwig said UW has been preparing for an H1N1 outbreak "for quite some time," but there was only so much the training staff could do to prevent it.

"We all had this timeline," Helwig said. "We're not going to get the vaccine until October, so there really isn't anything we can do to effectively prevent this until we get the vaccine. Everybody, all across the country, is under this same thing where we have this void in here where we have to let things run their course and deal with it as it comes in.

"We're very closely monitoring the symptoms. Those that are sickest are out of here. Those with symptoms that we don't feel are flu-like symptoms, if they don't have a fever they're continuing to practice."

Meanwhile, flu-like symptoms continue to ravage the Mississippi football team, even sacking quarterback Jevan Snead.

Shannon Singletary, Ole Miss' senior associate athletic director for sports medicine, says more than a dozen Rebels football players are sick with flu symptoms, including fevers as high as 103 degrees. Tests to confirm the presence of swine flu take two weeks to complete, but officials aren't taking any chances.

"From what we understand the standard protocol across the country is to treat all the symptoms as if they are swine flu," Singletary said.

Other sports and the student body in general have been hit hard over the last three weeks. Ole Miss spokeswoman Barbara Lago says 368 students have reported flu-like symptoms to campus health services staff and a system that reports absences to faculty has reported twice as many students missing class over the last two weeks than is usual for a full month during the regular fall flu season.

Washington State's football team has also been dealing with a flu outbreak that is suspected to be swine flu. Before its opening game last week against Stanford, Washington State reported 13 players with flu-like symptoms.

Officials at Mississippi are following Centers for Disease Control guidelines and ill players are being isolated for 24 to 48 hours even after their symptoms clear up. A vaccine for the swine flu is not expected to be available until next month.

"As best as possible we're putting them by themselves," Singletary said. "If they're in a dorm room we're trying to make arrangements where their teammates are living with other people. We're doing everything we can to get them by themselves for 24 to 48 hours at least."

That didn't stop Snead from catching the illness. His roommate, Clayton Moore, also had the flu.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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