Faces of the flu

The number of patients seeking treatment for flulike symptoms has been double the usual amount this year.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

Dr. Peter Barnovsky, a family practice physician in Cortland, has been on the front lines of this fall’s flu outbreak — not only because he has treated hundreds of Cortland-area children, but because all three of his own kids got sick.

But when his youngest, 11-year-old Sophia, got the flu and pneumonia a couple weeks ago, the danger really hit home.

“I was pro-vaccine before my kids got sick, but after my kids got sick, it became that I strongly recommended it,” he said.

Dr. Barnovsky is referring to the H1N1 vaccine that production facilities are releasing to health boards across the United States. Health boards are scheduling vaccination clinics as soon as they have sufficient supplies of the vaccine.

Not everyone has endorsed the vaccine, however, with some saying the flu is not severe enough to warrant a vaccine and some saying they don’t trust it to be safe.

Sophia got a cough Oct. 9 that turned into a fever of 101 on the 15th and 103 on the 16th, said Sophia’s mother, Mary Jean.

Sophia had three good days after that in which she had just an ordinary cough, and she went back to school on the 20th.

But Lakeview Middle School called home an hour after Sophia got there on the 20th, saying Sophia wasn’t feeling well. When her parents brought her home, she had glassy eyes and a fever of more than 103.

“Her teeth were chattering, she had goose bumps as though she were cold, but she was burning up,” Mary Jean said. At home, her parents gave her Tamiflu, Advil and Tylenol.

By 3 p.m., she was at Akron Children’s Hospital in Boardman, where doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia.

Sophia was not admitted, but she received a powerful antibiotic, and she is much better now.

Mary Jean says she panicked when she learned Sophia had pneumonia, especially when her husband told her some kids don’t respond to the antibiotic and some die.

“It was very scary,” Mary Jean said.

The two other Barnovsky children, Isabella, 13, and Vincent, 15, also came down with the flu around Oct. 16, but their symptoms — fever, headaches and body aches — only lasted a couple days.

Dr. Barnovsky said about 20 percent of kids in America have had flu-like symptoms this year, and 5 percent to 10 percent of kids with the flu are getting pneumonia.

When he took his daughter to the hospital, it was full of kids with pneumonia, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of people who have come in scared of the vaccine, and I don’t see the reason for that,” he said.

This year’s H1N1 vaccine is made the same way that the seasonal flu vaccine has been made for years.

“What’s the difference if it’s for this flu or the flu in any other year?” he said. “This year you’ve got to take two flu shots.”

Because all three Barnovksy children had the flu, they won’t be getting the vaccine, Mary Jean said. But what if one of her children had not gotten the flu — would she have wanted that child to have the vaccine?

“When you see my daughter as sick as she was and saying there’s a certain percentage who don’t respond [to the antibiotics], that’s scary. I don’t ever want to be in that position again, so I’d probably get the vaccine,” she said.

Cortland has been hit hard by the flu, with Dr. Barnovsky estimating 30 percent of the kids coming down with it.

The Lakeview School District superintendent, Robert Wilson, said there was one day a couple weeks ago when about a quarter of the students in Lakeview Middle School (grades four to seven) were out sick. The following week, Lakeview Elementary (kindergaren through grade three) had a similar number of kids out.

Many of those kids, when they went to their doctor, got nothing more than a recommendation for Advil and cough syrup.

Such was the case for Jake Colbrunn, 14, of Bazetta Township, a Lakeview High School freshman, who came down with the flu the week of Oct. 26 and spent two days on the couch with a fever of 102-103, a cough, dizziness, nausea and “general achiness,” said his mother, Donna, a registered nurse.

“He had no strength, no energy. For two days, he was on the couch,” Donna said. Altogether he suffered ill effects from the illness for four to five days.

Was his illness any worse than other bouts with the flu?

Donna said the fever may have been higher, but otherwise it was similar to previous illnesses, she said.

Will Jake get the H1N1 vaccine? His mother said probably not.

She doesn’t know if Jake had the H1N1 flu, but he probably did, and by having already had it, she figures his body has quite a bit of immunity to the virus now.

The Colbrunns also have a daughter, 21, who attends Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and is a cheerleader. The athletic department there encouraged athletes, including cheerleaders, to get the seasonal flu shot and is also “highly encouraging” athletes get the H1N1 vaccine, Donna said.

Elaine Moldovan, 14, of Bazetta, came down with the flu about Oct. 18, said her mother, Frances.

Elaine’s first symptom was a high temperature, but she also had body aches and chills and was prescribed the antiviral medication Tamiflu.

Frances notes that in Elaine’s case, the side effects of the medicine may have been worse than the flu.

A pharmacist told Frances that the nausea, vomiting, rash and irritability that occurred within about an hour of taking the medicine were probably side effects from the Tamiflu.

Elaine missed school two days, and many of her closest friends became ill at about the same time, Frances said.

As for whether this flu was worse than any other, Frances said no.

“I didn’t feel it was a panicky thing. To me, she had the flu, and you can call it anything you want — swine flu, bird flu. It was the flu.”

Frances, who teaches exercise classes, stresses healthy living in her house, like exercise and taking vitamins, and her family stays pretty healthy.

At this point, she doesn’t believe she or any of her daughters will get the H1N1 vaccine, she said, because she doesn’t believe it is necessary. She also believes the news media has blown the H1N1 scare “out of proportion.”

As for Tamiflu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that medication should be reserved for people with more severe illness, such as patients hospitalized with influenza, and people at increased risk of influenza-related complications.

When an anti-viral medication is used, it should be started within two days after becoming sick, the CDC says. When used this way, the drug can reduce the severity of flu symptoms and shorten the sickness time by one or two days. It may also prevent serious flu complications and reduce deaths and duration of hospitalization.

Antiviral drugs may be especially important for people who are very sick (hospitalized) or people who are sick with the flu and at increased risk of serious flu complications, such as pregnant women, young children and those with chronic health conditions, the CDC says.

Dr. Ruth Quarles is director of the urgent care center at the Trumbull Mahoning Medical Group urgent care center on Elm Road in Bazetta. She said TMMG is seeing about twice as many patients for flu-like symptoms this year compared to last year.

The spike began about four weeks ago with “a lot of sick kids” with a high fever, cough and body aches, she said. The number has backed off a bit since then. Diarrhea has not been a common symptom. About two weeks ago, the facility began seeing more adults with flu-like symptoms. Last week, about half of the flu patients were children and half adults.

Quarles said she’s only had two patients needing hospitalization, and both of those were infants experiencing breathing problems.

There are no medications to cure the flu, and medications generally just help the patient feel better while they recuperate, Quarles said.

Authorities have said that most people with flu like symptoms have the H1N1 strain, but most patients are not tested to determine that because the test is expensive and unnecessary.

runyan@vindy.com

FLU SYMPTOMS | Children, adults

The warning signs for children and adults that urgent medical attention is needed include:

CHILDREN

Fast breathing or trouble breathing.

Bluish or gray skin color.

Not drinking enough fluids.

Severe or persistent vomiting.

Not waking up or not interacting.

Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held.

Flulike symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

ADULTS

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.

Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen.

Sudden dizziness.

Confusion.

Severe or persistent vomiting.

Flulike symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention