Reports of flulike cases on the rise

By Ed Koch
<koch@lasvegassun.com> and Mary Manning
<manning@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN

The flu season has just kicked off, yet already there have been 154 cases of "influenzalike" illnesses reported in Clark County.

There have been no confirmed cases of the flu, the Clark County Health District said.

The report of so many near-flu cases has resulted in the Centers for Disease Control listing Nevada as one of eight states with flu or flu-like illnesses.

"Many doctors do not check for flu, but rather are treating influenzalike symptoms," Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the health district, said Thursday. "That is what they have reported to us from 10 sites. As the flu season progresses, we will receive reports from a number of other sites."

The local flulike cases account for 2.1 percent of patient illnesses reported to the health district by doctors and hospitals. That is just slightly higher than the national average of 1.9 percent, Sizemore said.

That statistic concerns local health officials.

"There is a reason to worry whenever you are above the national level, which makes our prevention efforts all the more important," said Peggy Hensley, coordinator for the health district's immunization program.

"After two mild winters and two years of either delays or shortages with the flu vaccine, we are not seeing the response among the general public to getting the flu shot that we had hoped for."

However, she said, people who could face serious illness or even death, such as those over 65 and those with chronic heart and lung conditions, have responded well to the program. On the first day the Health District began issuing its 25,000 doses in October, lines were long.

Dr. Randolph Shiraishi, director of two University Medical Center Quick Cares, said response has been good to the flu shot program at his clinics where incidents of flulike symptoms have popped up recently.

"As opposed to cold symptoms that we see in late summer and early fall, we are seeing in just the last week patients with flu-like symptoms like muscle aches, fever and stomach ailments." Shiraishi said. "They say they feel like they've been beaten up and tell us their entire offices are out with the bug."

UMC Quick Cares, which started with 7,500 doses, and the Health District report having plenty of doses left in stock. It is not too late to get a shot. They say the worst of the local flu season usually is December to March.

The other states with reports of sporadic flu -- the third level of concern behind "widespread" and "regional" -- are Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Georgia. The only two states with regional outbreaks have been Florida and Louisiana, the CDC said.

No states have had widespread flu outbreaks as of Oct. 26, the latest date for which statistics are available, the CDC said

Washoe County has not reported any confirmed cases of influenza, Washoe Health District spokeswoman Cass Luke said Thursday.

Sizemore said modern flu shots are of the "kill" virus vaccine variety, not the old "live" variety. The old shots gave recipients a mild case of the flu to build the body's immunity. The new vaccine does not have such a side effect.

However, the new vaccine takes two weeks to develop an immunity in the system. For 14 days after getting the shot, people who are exposed to the flu are susceptible to getting the flu, health officials said.

Others who are defined as at-risk and should make it a priority to receive flu shots are children 6 to 23 months, residents of nursing homes, children on long-term aspirin therapy, diabetics and women who will be in their second or third trimester of pregnancy during the flu season, the health district said.