GREEN VALLEY – After a period of steady increases in the numbers of flu-like illnesses being reported by health care providers in both West Virginia and Virginia, a decline is being seen.
In West Virginia, medical centers such as emergency rooms are seeing fewer cases that appear to be influenza.
“We certainly have in the ER,” said Dr. Kathy Wides, Mercer County Health Officer. Wides also works in the emergency room of Bluefield Regional Medical Center.
“We’ve seen a lot less. I’ve seen that (trend) in the last couple of weeks,” Wides said.
Melody Rickman, RN, administrator of the Mercer County Health Department, said the number of new cases with flu-like symptoms the department is seeing has declined as well.
“We had 179 last week. That’s way down,” Rickman said. At one point, the department was seeing up to 1,000 or more new cases a week.
However, this decline does not mean seasonal flu or swine flu is going away.
“You can expect it to go back up,” Rickman said. “I don’t know when, but that’s the traditional pattern. We’re just now getting into the seasonal flu season. That’s mostly in December, January and February. Usually, after Thanksgiving it will start going back up.”
Whether this increase will be mainly seasonal flu or swine flu cannot be determined. If H1N1 (swine flu) behaves the same way as seasonal flu, the number of new cases could climb again, she said.
The Mercer County Health Department still have H1N1 vaccine, and a shipment of seasonal flu vaccine is expected during the first week of December, Rickman said.
In Virginia, health care providers are also seeing fewer cases with flu-like symptoms, said Robert Parker of the Virginia Department of Health. In the Cumberland Plateau Health District, which includes Tazewell and Buchanan counties, only 3 to 5 percent of the new cases emergency departments and urgent care centers are for influenza-like illnesses.
“A couple of weeks ago, it was over 15 percent,” Parker said.
Local News
November 23, 2009
Flu cases decline in area
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