Got five years worth of con crud at one shot.
Man, is it just me or was this year's variant exceptionally bad? After avoiding it for four years, I've just spent TWRF working-ill, and S and U flat on my back (when I didn't have my head crammed in a tissue box) and today I finally was able to crawl out of bed.
What hurts is that I did everything right... hydrate, don't eat all garbage, avoid eating after other people... heck, I didn't even share a bed! Some years it's just got your number...
I swear by loading up on C and Zinc before during and after a con,
before to help fend off and colds that you may catch before the con to prevent bringing it there, during to keep up the immune boosting so you don't catch one there and after to help prevent some of the slower germinating ones from catching hold
Vitamin C as a preventative measure for illness is largely urban legend. Linus Pauling, who was a fairly legit scientist with a long list of accomplishments including helping in discovering the double helix structure of DNA and molecular biology, started jumping a bit overboard in the 70s and released a few books that started with the premise that vitamin C can cure/prevent the common cold, but eventually crescendoed into crazy (that it can cure cancer.) By the end of this, everyone thought he was insane (and rightly so) - but at the beginning, he had enough clout that the whole vitamin C/feeling better thing made its way into everyone's brains and stayed there.
Subsequent studies have pretty much proven that vitamin C has literally no effect (good or bad) when it comes to preventing or treating colds.
Not saying you can't take 'em, just if you're buying expensive supplements in the hopes of feeling better or not getting ill at a con, that money would be better spent on a good meal or a hotel room to get a reasonable amount of sleep in (or some hand sanitizer) and that would DEFINITELY have more effect. This also extends to things like airborne and emergen-c - they're no substitute for handwashing and general safe behaviour. :]
^ this
And yes, Linus Pauling wasn't just crazy. He was fruitbat flapjacks banging on the walls kind of crazy:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html
I guess I'm an odd one, because I don't recall ever getting con crud in the last 3 years I've attended AC. I was all sniffles the other day, but that was only because I was sneezing my head off due to my allergies (which don't seem to act up at all in the Burgh).
I'm sorry you got slammed, but glad you're getting better. Here's hoping it won't be as bad next year. :3
Watch out... I got away without catching anything for 4 years, then WHAM! 
Yup, back at work today, trying to get as many people to join me in misery as possible ;P
Oh no, that means I'm targeted for NEXT YEAR!! Vitamin C, STAT!
Sometimes all it takes is for one little staphylococksucker to find its way into your lungs.
It's like, "Yo, dude, I'm a bacterium."
And the lungs are like, "That's cool."
And he's like "You guys got some crash space?"
And the lungs are like, "Uh..."
And he's like "It's just for a day or two, and it's just me. I won't have any friends over."
And the lungs are like, "Well, OK."
And he's like, "Party!!"
What a succinct way to describe it.
Staphylococksucker. I'm going to have to use that in my vocabulary today. XD
And ironically, that's very much how this all feels... like some uninvited guests had a beer bash in my sinuses.
What's unfair is that I get the hangover and they had all the fun
After working a 12 hrs shift and going the whole weekend with the max of only 4hrs of sleep(a day). Physical street to the body for walking the whole city. Drinking str8 shots of gin and vodak and chasing them with other ppls unfinshed drinks. Smoking my head off and laying down outside infront of the hilton facedown (hypervenalation (mispelled I know) but 1hr of sleep on sat night. And a crooked back. I do believe that I raged to the fullest. Buck up man BUCK UP LOL. Na I hope you feel better dude, next time drink more
I worked at a Dealer's Table, perhaps the best way to get any sicknesses spread around the con, and I did pretty fine.
It helps that I had a bottle of hand sanitizer handy. Maybe such thing should be made widely available, if this sort of thing is a problem for a lot of people.
Interesting that they don't have little bottles of that stuff in the rooms, right next to the tiny shampoos 
what with it turning up all over the place due to the who swine flu thing. I mean, heck, we've got 'em in church, all over the place... I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bottle stashed under the altar.
That wouldn't help much, I don't think.
I'm inclined to think of my school, which had installed hand sanitizer dispensers in multiple places in every building.
Maybe the AC staff can do something like that? Have them near the entrance/exit of the Dealers room, the Zoo, and other populated areas.
We had two giant bottles of hand Sanitizer at Registration this year, for the available use of attendees and staff.
As for 'standee' ones, that is an interesting idea; Anyone who'd like to do the research on cost of a handful of those?
As for 'standee' ones, that is an interesting idea; Anyone who'd like to do the research on cost of a handful of those?
Does it need to be that fancy? Would anyone object to placing the same sort of large dispenser-jugs on random water-station tables?
I can't admit to having the best sources for this, but the free-standing things seem to cost maybe twice as much as regular sanitizer holders do.
http://www.nextag.com/hand-sanitizer-stand/shop-html
http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&m=g1&itemNumber=8099335
That's about the best price I can find for a site that looks trustworthy. I don't know if there are better places to buy them in bulk.
While this might seem a good idea on paper, we cannot justify the expense.
Who is going to refill them? In the DLCC that would be a union job, and would add significantly to our labor costs.
Where will we store them and how will we transport them? Storage and transportation are very important concerns for any equipment, and our truck is already quite full with our existing equipment.
The single-use pump containers can be placed on a table and discarded when they are empty, which is why we opted to use them. If we run out we can buy more locally, and with luck we will not have to transport any unused ones home.
Just stick 'em with the light bulbs.
One pothole later and whatever truck you're driving will be the most sanitized vehicle in existence.
Only if we keep them on wheeled carts. 
Where does Anthrocon store there stuff and if it's not in the Pittsburgh area why isn't it there? With the exception of the union stuff having a couple of stands in strategic places being stored locally should not be all that expensive or troublesome. Just my thoughts on it but I probably don't know the half of it.
IIRC, a lot of the Art Show boards are borrowed from a Philadelphia-area sci-fi con. Plus, Kage, Giza, and some of the other AC higher-ups live in the Philly area, so storing the materials in (their) town allows them to check up on those as needed during the year.
We spend a fairly significant sum on storage each year, both in the Philadelphia area and the Pittsburgh area. As we grow, we anticipate need for additional materials, and are trying to keep things in check.
Now, now Kage. You know we love you.
A quick browse of the stand-alone ones show they cost about $65 apiece, at best. That's kind of a 'nope'.
We can try and make more of the stand-alone bottles of hand sanitizer available, but you can also, y'know.. bring some yourself. Even if you're flying, under 3 ounces.
--Chi
I did not get con crud this year.
However, my anaphylactic allery to all fungus has returned after nearly two years of freedom from it due to the massive allergen overload in the air this year and myriad mosquito bites (to which I have massive histamine responses). X_x
Heh. I may sound like the idiot who got drunk last night and called everyone a retard, but I think getting con crud could actually be one of the many experiences you'll remember. Bad one, yes, but it'd be one of those long-standing memories. Sim-style: "Got Con Crud: "What an excellent time! Too bad I got the Con Crud while there, but oh well! I'll get over it soon!"
At least you won't have it again, be thankful for that much and the fact that you went to the convention and (hopefully) had fun. =P
Fun little Question: Have you ever seen an older plumber with a cold or the flu?
I've managed to avoid con-crud myself, maybe the staff-infection helps?
Seriously though, I used to work in a nursing home, and was taught (well more like brain-washed) the necessary habits to reduce the spread of viruses and bacteria. In that setting the last thing you want to do is see a staph infection spread from a fairly healthy patient to one that is already bad off. It would likely mean their death. Hard to live with the knowledge that you killed a patient by not being careful.
Sounds like your own personal viruses may have been acting out because they were lonely.