Hospitalizations from flu nearly triple this season

YOUNGSTOWN

Hospitalizations for influenza-like illnesses in Mahoning County nearly tripled during the 2014-15 flu season compared with the same months in 2013-14.

There were six flu-associated pediatric deaths reported in Ohio in the 2014-15 season through May 2, but no pediatric deaths from influenza reported in Mahoning County for the same period.

Neither were there any flu-related

pediatric deaths in Mahoning County during the 2013-14 season after suffering one during the 2012-13 season, said Susan Kovach, epidemiologist for the Mahoning County District Board of Health.

Flu-related deaths of children 18 and under are required to be reported to the Ohio Department of Health. Reporting adult flu-related deaths is not required, Kovach said.

Not only were there more influenzalike illnesses, but anecdotally, people were generally sicker than usual, said Dr. Philip R. Cataline, infectious-disease physician at ValleyCare Health System of Ohio’s Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.

“I’m assuming there is some correlation between more-severe illness and the ensuing complications and mutation of the flu-virus strain that caused the vaccine to be not as effective,” Dr. Cataline said. But, he said, the vaccine protected against strains that did not mutate.

Read more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.