ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290061
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY AND BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITERS
The creeping crud is among us.
Bleary-eyed and pale, its victims have tramped into the emergency room at Montgomery Regional Hospital, achy, dehydrated and telling woeful tales of how they have been unable to keep food down for days, or even a full week.
So far the evidence is anecdotal, not statistical, but it appears the flu season is well under way in the New River Valley.
Only people like Alan Vierling, a nurse and assistant manager of Montgomery Regional Hospital's emergency department, have war stories more vivid and grotesque than the patients themselves.
Likening it to a bus unloading at the front door, Montgomery's emergency room has treated 15 to 20 people per day with flu-like symptoms during the last three weeks, Vierling said. At one point Wednesday morning, his staff treated seven people within minutes who all had the classic flu symptoms.
"They come in looking bad," he said. "They come in, they look sick, bad as they can be, kind of hunched over saying, 'I don't want to puke anymore, make it go away.'"
During exam week at Virginia Tech, scores of students were coming in, looking sick and worn out, Vierling said. Even on Christmas, about 12 people came in with flu symptoms.
On Wednesday, the state Health Department notified its local offices that influenza activity in Virginia has been upgraded from regional to widespread, said Dr. Jody Hershey, director of the New River Health District.
So far, the state's tracking system has shown more confirmed cases of influenza A in the central and eastern portions of Virginia, Hershey said. But that may have more to do with the New River Valley's flu-tracking system - which relies exclusively on the Virginia Tech student health service - than with what's really going on at the area's doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals.
"Just because the numbers are low doesn't mean we don't have a lot of influenza activity here," Hershey said.
The usual indicators of flu are a temperature greater than 100, a cough or sore throat or both, severe body aches, fever and chills, Hershey said. Without blood testing, it is difficult to say whether a person is afflicted with the influenza virus or some other type of viral infection of the upper respiratory system, he said.
Nevertheless, the treatment is similar: drinking plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration; resting; controlling coughs with a cough medicine (coughing spreads the influenza virus). If the symptoms persist longer than three or four days, Hershey recommends consulting with a physician. The elderly, or people whose immune systems already are compromised, should consult with a physician immediately if they notice flu symptoms, Hershey said. Prompt treatment with anti-viral drugs such as amantadine or rimantadine can shorten the course of a case of influenza considerably, he said.
Likewise, flu shots can prevent or reduce the severity of flu symptoms, but they are most effective when administered early in the season, preferably in October and November. The influenza vaccination begins to protect a person one to two weeks after the shot.
"From my perspective, it's never too late to have an influenza vaccine shot," Hershey said.
The shots can be obtained from the Health Department at $7 a pop or from a private physician.
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