Flu cases increase in Ohio

Associated Press

DAYTON

The Ohio Department of Health says flu cases this past season were the most since it began keeping count.

Statistics show that 5,200 Ohioans were hospitalized with the flu from September last year through May 18.

That’s even up from 2009-2010 when the swine flu pandemic when there were 3,200 flu-related hospitalizations in the state.

State health officials saythat it’s hard to explain the high number of cases during the past flu season.

They say there’s no indication that a new virus led to the spike in hospitalizations.

The numbers do show that the flu season began about a month earlier than normal and hospitalizations started going up in mid-December.