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Getting flu shot still worthwhile, though cases tapering off here
YOUNGSTOWN
Local infectious-disease physicians and the Ohio Department of Health say influenza is tapering off even though the Valentine’s Day weekend is typically the peak of the flu season.
Influenzalike illnesses are down, said Dr. John Bower, infectious-disease specialist for Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, and pediatrician Dr. John Venglarcik III, medical director for the Mahoning County Board of Health and an infectious-disease specialist.
Dr. Bower said, however, it is not too late to get a flu shot, which, though not as effective as desired this season, still provides protection against some types of flu virus floating around.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Northern Hemisphere seasonal flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, usually peak between December and February, with activity as late as May.
Over the past 32 years, the CDC reported, the peak month of flu activity, the month with the highest percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza virus infection, was in February.
Historically, flu activity in this part of the country peaks on Valentine’s Day weekend, Dr. Venglarcik said.
“We started a little earlier this flu season and peaked a little earlier; now it is tapering off. Hospitalizations locally dropped a couple weeks ago,” he said.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, seasonal influenzalike activity for the week of Feb. 1-7 decreased in Ohio but continued to be widespread.
The percentage of emergency-room visits with patients exhibiting constitutional and fever/influenza-like illness symptoms are below baseline averages.
The number of flu-related hospitalizations the week of Feb. 1-7 was 212, down one from the previous week, bringing Ohio’s total number of hospitalizations for the flu season through Feb. 7 to 7,612.
There have been five influenza-associated pediatric deaths in Ohio through Feb. 7, which are required to be reported to ODH. It is not known how many adult deaths, which are not required to be reported, have occurred.