ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
There's been a big jump in the number of patients reporting flu and flu-like symptoms this month, the New River Health District reported Wednesday.
"It's here," said Dr. Jody Hershey, district director. "This is just a little earlier than usual for the high numbers of symptoms we're seeing."
Normally, physicians see the greatest number of flu symptoms in January, Hershey said, and "historically, the Southwest tends to lag a little bit behind the rest of the state ."
A group of doctors across the state (11 of them from Southwest Virginia) are charged with recording and keeping track of flu cases and symptoms. Hershey and other health officials use the reports as a gauge.
So far this year, the southwest and northwest are leading the rest of the state, Hershey said. As of Dec. 12, the group of doctors had seen a total of 453 patients with flu-like symptoms. Southwest Virginia had 163 cases, a jump from 43 recorded by Dec. 5.
Pulaski County pediatricians have confirmed four cases of Influenza A, Hershey said.
Dr. Karen Barnhart, a physician with Shawsville Family Practice, said she's seen people complaining of flu-like symptoms both in her office and at an urgent-care center where she works evenings in Salem. Many have been children between 10 and 13 years of age.
Still, "it's not the worst flu season I've seen so far," she said.
The flu can hit people of all ages - the four confirmed Pulaski cases were children between 19 months and 7 years. The biggest concern is for people over 65 years of age with chronic health problems, Hershey said.
Those are the people being targeted for revaccination by Parke-Davis, a pharmaceutical company that announced this week it had issued several lots of weak vaccines.
The local health department did not use any of the Parke-Davis vaccines, nor did the state of Virginia, Hershey said.
His office has been receiving calls since Parke-Davis reported that 5.8 million of its doses were not full strength.
Influenza is an acute respiratory disease. Type A can be prevented with oral, antiviral medication or with the vaccine.
Hershey said it is not too late for people - especially the older, at-risk group - to get vaccinated for the flu season, which lasts from December to March. "It takes about two weeks for the immune system to crank up," he said.
The flu's incubation period is one to four days.
Symptoms include a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, muscle ache and fatigue or weakness. The symptoms can range from mild to severe and can lead to viral pneumonia and even death, Hershey said. Many of those who died in the last few flu outbreaks were older than 65 and died of pneumonia.
Acute symptoms last two to four days. The weakness or cough can continue up to two weeks.
The group of statewide doctors that monitors the flu reported a total of 1,789 cases of flu or flu-like symptoms last year.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB