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Flu hospitalizations up threefold in 2014-15 season, but no pediatric deaths
YOUNGSTOWN
Hospitalizations for influenzalike 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 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.
He also noted that more people hospitalized with the flu had complications, including pneumonia and pre-existing heart conditions.
Overall, if you look at the 2014-15 flu season, there was an increase in the number of individuals who required hospitalization, especially those over 65 with underlying conditions, such as pulmonary or cardiac problems, and children, mostly infants and younger children, said Dr. John Bower of Akron Children’s Hospital Division of Infectious Diseases.
Possible reasons for increased hospitalizations are the vaccine mismatch for Influenza A; and the A strain of virus may have been more virulent, Dr. Bower said.
Influenza B usually appears toward the end of the flu season, which it did. But this year, the B strain hung around a little longer and was a little more intense, he said.
Reflecting on the season, there are some benefits, said Dr. Bower.
First, if the increase in cases and hospitalizations occurred because of the vaccine mismatch, it demonstrates how effective the vaccine is when it does match with the circulating strain, which is true more often than not, he said.
And, given the extended Influenza B activity, it suggests the B-strain cases may have been much higher without the vaccine.
“Even if the vaccine missed on Influenza A, it nailed Influenza B, affording protection and keeping it from being worse,” Dr. Bower said.
According to the state health department, there were 9,246 confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations in the state during the 2014-15 season through May 2.
Locally, the Mahoning County health department, in conjunction with Youngstown City Health District, tracks the flu from Sept. 1 of one year through May 31 of the next. Data collected by ODH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Oct. 1 through the end of May are reported one week later than local data.
According to ODH, during week 17 (April 26-May 2), influenzalike illness activity decreased in Ohio.
In Mahoning County, through May 8, 218 people had been hospitalized compared with 65 for the same period in 2013-14. No flu-related hospitalizations were reported for week 17, and four had been reported early in week 18, the final week to be tracked by the county health department.