St. Louis University has set up a “recovery center” a couple blocks off of campus where students who come down with swine flu can be isolated and treated.

The university sent out an email to students, staff and faculty this afternoon to notify them that five students appear to have become infected so far. Four of the students live off-campus and one lives on-campus.

On-campus students live within driving distance of home are being asked to go home if they become sick, the school said. But on-campus students who cannot go home will be temporarily relocated to the Manresa Retreat Center on Washington Avenue. SLU often uses the university-owned building for overflow student housing. The recovery center will be staffed 24 hours a day by university health personnel.

The university has also asked that students with flu-like symptoms to go to the student health center and to limit their exposure to others. Students who are believed to have H1N1 shoudl not go to class or other activities, SLU said.

The University of Missouri-Columbia has had more than 50 students report flu-like illnesses that appear to be the swine flu since last week.

Washington University, which does not yet have any reported cases, plans to put students who become ill from swine flu in empty residence hall rooms where they can be isolated from their roommates. Plans are also being made for meals to be delivered to those students.

Stay tuned for more details. I am working on a story about how campuses around the region are addressing flu concerns that should run in the next couple of days.

College campuses are expected to be hit hard by the virus because it is supposed to disproportionately affect younger people.

The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday,com/thegrade.