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Area Flu Cases Increase

Hospitals across the area are beginning to see an increase in flu cases.

During the second week of January, 158 patients were tested for flu-like symptoms by Sacred Heart Health System, with 14 percent receiving positive results for influenza.

“Many patients are not officially tested for flu when they have flu-like symptoms,” says Donna Mayne, Microbiology Lab Manager at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. “That means the actual number of people suffering from the influenza virus could be much greater than our percentages indicate.”

At Sacred Heart’s Urgent Care Center on Highway 29 in Pensacola, family medicine physician Dr. Fred Mixon has noticed an increase in patients presenting with flu-like symptoms. “In December we were seeing on average five patients a day with flu-like symptoms. In the past three weeks we have seen that number increase to eight to 10 patients a day.” says Dr. Mixon.

January and February typically are the worst flu months, but the flu season can also drag into March. Although colds and flu seem to be more common in cold weather, the colder temperatures are not the culprit in making people sick. Many experts believe the increase is due to people spending more time indoors with others during the winter months, which increases the chance of spreading viruses.

This year, most of the flu cases seen in the U.S. have been due to a Type A virus called H3N2. This particularly virulent virus has been known to trigger more pneumonia and other complications than other forms of influenza. The 2010/2011 seasonal flu vaccine does offer triple protection — against last year’s “swine flu” (Type A H1N1), the prevalent H3N2 strain, and the Type B flu that tends to be less severe.

Influenza is caused by very contagious viruses which infect the nose, throat and lungs and cause symptoms such as fever, chills, dry cough, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, sore throat, headache and nasal congestion. A person can spread the flu as early as one day before he or she even feels sick, and can continue to pass the flu virus to others for five to seven days after symptoms start.

There is still an ample supply of this year’s flu vaccine available in the United States, but because it takes about two weeks for the vaccine’s protection to take effect, those interested in being vaccinated should do so right away. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccine for most everyone, except infants younger than 6 months and people with severe allergies to eggs.