In Valley, a fevered demand for shots

People are queuing up in large numbers to get vaccinated.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning Valley residents have not yet been hit in large numbers by the flu, according to public health officials.
But it may be starting.
Southington schools in Trumbull County were closed Thursday and today because a large number of pupils and teachers were ill with flulike symptoms.
And, perhaps fueled by media reports about the flu in other areas and a shortage of flu vaccine here, people are queuing up in large numbers to get the last of the flu shots available.
There may be a question as to whether people are overreacting to reports of deaths in other areas, and the shortage of vaccine, but there is no doubt the flu is a serious illness in any year, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics.
Flu facts
There are 10,000 to 14,000 flu or flulike illnesses reported annually to ODH, and about 3,000 die each year from the upper respiratory illness.
That puts the flu in the top 10 causes of death in the state, said Christopher Weiss, ODH spokesman.
As of last Friday, Ohio had 22 lab-confirmed cases of flu, and 1,038 flu or flulike cases reported, Weiss said.
Also, Ohio's first death related to flu this season occurred in Pickaway County last week when a 1-year-old girl died.
There have been other flu-related deaths elsewhere, including in Colorado, which reported the deaths of several children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is trying to determine whether A-Fujian virus, which is dominant this year, is hitting children more often than other flu viruses in other years.
"The flu is serious, you bet," said Dr. Larry Frisch, medical director for the Mahoning County Health District and the John S. and Doris M. Andrews professor of community health sciences at Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
He noted that the flu season has started earlier than usual, but said he's not wise enough to determine yet if it will be more severe in terms of numbers of people ill and the severity of the illnesses.
The CDC has backed off an earlier recommendation that the entire population get immunized, he said, and has returned to the standard of recommending it for high-risk groups -- the elderly over 65, those with chronic illnesses, pregnant women and children from 6 to 23 months. The very young and the very old are most at risk for serious complications, he said.
Causes for concern
Two things are worrisome beyond the flu coming earlier than usual, Dr. Frisch said:
UThis year's strain seems to be killing people who ordinarily would not die from the flu. The question, which is too early to answer, is whether that's a tragic coincidence or a trend.
UThe virus that has come to the United States, A-Fujian, is slightly different from the A-Panama virus that the 2004 vaccine was designed to protect against. The question here, Dr. Frisch said, is if the CDC is correct when it says the vaccine will cross-protect against the mutated A-Fujian virus.