Flu season was worst in last four years

AKRON (AP) — National and local experts say the 2007-08 flu season was the worst they’ve seen in four years.

That’s mainly because the strains used in flu shots last fall didn’t match the virus that circulated from person to person over the winter, when more people got sick, had severe symptoms and were hospitalized since 2004.

According to Dr. Marguerite Erme of the Akron Health Department, the most recent flu season also lasted longer than usual.

She says that in a typical year, influenza activity peaks twice, with one strain causing a spike early in the season, followed by a lull and then another spike caused by a different strain.

Erme says the number of flu cases in Northeast Ohio have declined only in the last two weeks.