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Seasonal flu back in full blast
Dr. Michael Unger gives a flu shot to Ron Branstrom, of Glenview, in his Northbrook office. The flu has been widespread and more severe this year, health officials say. I David Banks~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 25, 2013 11:35AM
The seasonal flu is back in full blast, arriving sooner and with more severity than usual.
Health officials report influenza-like illnesses have been circulating with a vengeance around suburban Cook County and most of Illinois in recent weeks.
“We are seeing widespread activity much earlier than usual and an elevated number of cases of influenza,” compared with previous years, said Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The state doesn’t keep track of the incidence of influenza, because it is not a reportable disease. However, the agency monitors the data reported by doctors’ offices, emergency departments and nursing homes that report acute illness, as well as schools that report absenteeism rates, to determine prevalence levels.
By the first week of January, influenza had affected at least half the regions of 47 U.S. states. Illinois, one of the hardest-hit states, has endured widespread influenza activity since Dec. 9.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently declared the nationwide flu outbreak had reached epidemic proportions.
The virus shows no signs of up letting up locally.
“We’re seeing that it’s continuing to rise,” said Amy Poore, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Department of Public Health.
The number of influenza-associated hospitalizations in suburban Cook County has already surpassed the seasonal totals of the past two years.
Seasonal flu activity can begin as early as October and continue into May, but typically reaches its peak in January and February.
“This year, it is clearly going outside of those boundaries,” said Elisabeth Bacani, a public health nurse for the Village of Oak Park.
Since late August, the Cook County health department has recorded 90 flu cases at intensive care units. The same time last year only one person had been admitted for the flu. Last year’s flu season saw a total of 45 flu-related ICU cases.
Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, Skokie and Stickney Township collect their own data on diseases and are not included in those figures. As of last week, Skokie reported two ICU admissions and Oak Park had three. Information for Evanston wasn’t immediately available Friday.
A spike in absenteeism at area schools in December hinted that the flu bug was back.
Early last month Todd Hall, a 400-student elementary school in Lincolnwood, recorded approximately 50 student absences due sickness.
In Skokie, elementary school nurses conducted home visits after a number of children stayed home sick.
“We wouldn’t typically do that,” said Skokie Health Department Director Catherine Counard, “but we wanted to be sure and identify (the flu) as soon as it arrived.”
She said results confirmed the school had an outbreak of the H3N2 virus, this year’s predominant flu strand.
Respiratory illnesses also forced more than a dozen Chicago-area hospitals to temporarily divert ambulances to other facilities due to overcrowded emergency rooms. ~.
Susan Frick Carlman and Kimberly Fornek contributed to this report.~
