THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Your head is pounding. Your nose is packed. You feel as if your body has been beaten with a baseball bat. Your temperature has climbed well above 100. But you keep breaking into cold sweats.
You are not alone.
Since Jan. 1, more than 1,000 Outer Banks residents and visitors have seen Dare County doctors after contracting Influenza A - or viruses bringing similar symptoms.
One Hatteras Island physician called the outbreak an epidemic. At least six of his patients have had to be hospitalized this year because of complications from the flu. Others have developed pneumonia, bronchitis and various sinus infections.
This strain of ``real flu'' is nothing to sneeze at.
``A lot of people think they're dying with this particular type of flu. They say it's the worst they've felt in years,'' said Dr. Brian MacDowell of the MacDowell Family Health Center on Roanoke Island. ``You can go through many winters without ever getting the real, true influenza. That's what we've gotten down here this year.''
Influenza A lasts from three to 10 days and is generally debilitating. Patients almost always have to stay home from work or school, doctors said. It's the type of sickness you just have to give in to.
``Unlike a cold, this influenza is not something you can just take some Tylenol for and work on through it,'' MacDowell said. ``Even adults are running high fevers, and it just weakens people so badly they have to stay in bed. Usually, you just feel rotten all over.''
Other symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, a sore throat, body aches and temperatures of 100 to 103.
Last winter, doctors said, few real cases of influenza were reported on the Outer Banks.
Influenza A began appearing along North Carolina's Outer Banks in late December this season. February appeared to be the worst month for sickness, doctors said. Flu season is generally over by late March.
``We had a really bad outbreak down here a couple weeks ago. And we've definitely seen a lot more cases this year than last winter,'' said Dr. Seaborn Blair of the Hatteras Island Medical Center. ``The flu has hit this region pretty hard this year. Eastern North Carolina gets a pretty good epidemic every three or four years.
``But the good news is, we appear to be nearing the end of this flu epidemic.''
During the past two months, Blair said, he has treated more than 700 Hatteras Island patients for influenza and an ``adno virus'' that carries similar symptoms.
MacDowell said his Roanoke Island office has seen at least 100 people, ``probably more,'' who have influenza.
At the Outer Banks Medical Center in Nags Head, Dr. Mitch Jenkins said, about four patients a day have complained of flu-type symptoms since January - but he cannot tell with any certainty how many of those cases have been Influenza A.
``A lot of the people who've been coming in here already have had the influenza vaccination this year,'' Jenkins said Thursday. That leads him to believe that another sort of virus - perhaps para influenza - might be carrying similar symptoms. ``There is an awful lot of illness in Dare County right now that seems to be consistent,'' Jenkins said.
Across the state, cases of Influenza A and B have been cropping up since December, said Alice Pope, a public health adviser for the immunization section of the state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
``We don't really have any hard numbers of reported cases. But most of them seem to be type A,'' Pope said Thursday from her Raleigh office. ``There was a regional outbreak of that strain in February.''
Outer Banks residents are especially susceptible to Influenza A, Blair said, because ``we're all closed up here. We go to the same schools, work in the same offices, shop at the same grocery stores. There's no place for this particular virus to diffuse.
``Pretty soon, everybody has it. It spreads real quickly down here.''
Although Influenza A generally is not life-threatening, doctors are warning elderly patients or people with medical problems to see a physician if they have flu-like symptoms. Children, young adults and healthy people can usually shake the flu by themselves. But older people need to get medicine.
``The good part of this flu is that it's one of the few viruses there actually is an anti-viral medicine for,'' MacDowell said.
Amantadine, taken in pill form, can help shorten the course of Influenza A or can stave off some of its symptoms if taken early enough, MacDowell said.
If the medicine is not administered during the first two or three days of the symptoms, Jenkins said, it will not do any good.
The best nonprescription relief for flu sufferers, doctors said, is for patients to get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids and take Tylenol to keep their fevers down.
``Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes are about the worst things you can do if you have flu symptoms,'' MacDowell said. ``This virus is contracted through the respiratory system. So if that breaks down, the person's first line of defense is gone.
``The only thing you can do to keep from getting this flu is to take good care of yourself - and wash your hands frequently.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE SYMPTOMS OF INFLUENZA A
Since Jan. 1, Outer Banks doctors have treated at least 1,000
patients for Influenza A, or other illnesses that carry similar
symptoms. The virus generally lasts three to 10 days and often
results in complications. If you think you have influenza and are
65 or older - or have medical problems - see a physician.
Symptoms of Influenza A include:
Body aches, chills, fevers of 100 to 103 degrees, headaches, sore
throats, respiratory infections or stuffy heads, diarrhea and
nausea.
by CNB