This year’s flu season is shaping up as a harsh one in Chicago and across the country, particularly for children.
More than 900 lab tests in Chicago for the flu have come back positive since the end of September, compared with 240 during the same time period last year, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. The actual number of flu cases is likely much higher because not everyone gets tested.
That’s the second highest number of positive flu tests reported by the city’s health department in the last five years, surpassed only by the severe flu season from two years ago.
One of the most common strains this season — a Type B influenza — is hitting children especially hard, said Dr. Marielle Fricchione, medical director of the immunization program at the city’s Public Health Department.
This is the first time in decades influenza B has been the most common type of flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Parents of young children need to take it particularly seriously this year,” Fricchione said. “This is going to be a tough year for children, and making sure they’ve been vaccinated, if they haven’t yet been, will help protect them.”
Experts are urging anyone over the age of 6 months to get a flu shot. The flu season can start in October and last as long as May, though it peaks in December, January and February.
The flu usually comes on suddenly and can include symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea. Young children, adults ages 65 and older, and people with certain health issues, such as diabetes, asthma and cancer, are especially at risk of developing complications.
One child in Chicago has died from the flu this season.
Nationally, 32 children have died, and 21 of those deaths were associated with influenza B viruses, the CDC said. A year ago at this time, 16 children had died.
Across the country, levels of patients visiting doctors with flu-like illnesses remain high, and so far there have been about 4,800 flu deaths, according to the CDC.
But even though a high number of people are reporting flu-like symptoms, the number of hospitalizations and deaths has been relatively low, the CDC said. That’s likely because most hospitalizations and deaths are among people over age 65, and some of the most common flu strains this year are more likely to affect children.
Vaccines are developed in advance of flu season, and severe flu seasons often occur when strains that emerge don’t match the ones that vaccines protect against, said Dr. Julie Holland, vice president of pediatric primary care for the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance. The alliance is a pediatric partnership between Advocate Aurora Health, NorthShore University HealthSystem and University of Chicago Medicine.
It’s too early to predict how effective this year’s vaccines are, but they might not be a great match for the most common B strain now circulating, the CDC has said.
Experts predicted this year’s flu season in the U.S. might be particularly rough because it was a difficult flu season in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, where the season starts six months earlier. But the predominant virus in the Southern Hemisphere was H3N2, which has not been one of the most common strains in the U.S., Fricchione said.
Still, medical experts say it’s important to get vaccinated.
“It is not perfect,” said Dr. Allison Bartlett, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Chicago Medical Center, of the vaccine. “It does not completely prevent disease, but it does often lead to an illness that is less severe.”
It’s crucial to get vaccinated to help protect others at greater risk of complications from the illness, such as the elderly, and those who can’t get vaccinated, such as babies younger than 6 months, experts say.
Area hospitals have witnessed the effects of the elevated flu season. In December, the University of Chicago Medical Center had 163 patients test positive for the flu, compared with 63 last year, Bartlett said.
Lurie Children’s Hospital has seen a 28% increase in emergency room visits, mostly from patients coming in with flu-like symptoms, so far this month, compared with the same time frame last year.
Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 11, Rush University Medical Center’s ER tested 459 people for the flu, and 22% tested positive. The ER administered half as many tests during the same period last season with a 12% positive rate.
RSV, a common virus in children, is also now circulating, Fricchione said. Children who’ve had RSV recently might be more at risk for complications from the flu.
Sixty-three Chicago residents have been admitted to hospital intensive care units with the flu this season, compared with 32 at about the same time last year, according to the city’s Department of Public Health.
People who feel ill should contact their doctors as soon as possible. Some may be prescribed certain medications, such as Tamiflu, that can lessen the severity of the illness, but Tamiflu generally must be given in the first few days of sickness to be effective, Holland said.
Those who have the flu should stay home to recover and avoid spreading it.
“If you are sick, stay home,” Bartlett said. “It’s a tough thing to abide by. No one wants to disappoint their colleagues at work or miss out on school, but really, if you’ve got the flu, you need to be resting up for your own recovery and limiting the spread of infection to others.”
Chicagoans can visit chicagoflushots.org to find locations to get flu shots. Those who are uninsured or underinsured may get free shots at the city’s walk-in immunization clinics.
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