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Kansas, nation hit hard by flu

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net

It's been a rough flu season nationally and in Kansas. Earlier this month, widespread flu activity was reported in Kansas and in all but five states.

In Arkansas City, local doctors are booked with patients who have flu-like symptoms.

Local pharmacists report they are busier this flu season than in previous years. They are filling more prescriptions for people with flu symptoms and answering more questions about over-the-counter drugs.

Officials at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center also report an unusually tough flu season.

"We've had an unusually high number of patients with flu symptoms," hospital spokesman Clayton Pappan said Friday. "We're staying busy in every department."

Pappan said the hospital has been operating at close to full capacity for over a week.

"In order to help slow the spread of the flu and protect those that are at higher risk, the medical center has been limiting visitors to those 14 years of age or older," he said.

A SCKRMC nurse on the medical and surgical patient floor said the number of patients with flu symptoms is higher than normal.

"This year is so much worse," said Tammy Lynn, a registered nurse at the hospital. "We have had two to three times more RSV babies than last year. And now we are starting to receive patients that have both type A and type B influenza."

RSV babies are those under the age of two years who have a common respiratory virus and show moderate to severe cold symptoms, Pappan said.

More patients with flu symptoms are showing up at the emergency room this flu season compared to previous years, Pappan said.

"It's hard to get (doctor) appointments so we're seeing them at the ER," he said.

Susan Fisher, the ER registrar, said that 70 percent to 80 percent of the patients who present themselves at the ER have had some form of the flu.

Fisher said most of the patients are examined for fever and cough, or vomiting and stomach pain.

David Brazil, of City-Cowley County Health, confirmed as accurate a report in The Daily Oklahoman stating that experts are attributing the virulence of this year's flu season to vaccines that are less effective than they are in a good flu season, and to mutating flu strains.

This year, the vaccines are effective only about 40 percent of the time compared to about 80-percent effectiveness in a good year, The Oklahoman reported.

But local physician David Schmeidler said the effectiveness of the vaccines in the Arkansas City area are higher -- about 50 to 60 percent.

"Every year, it's hit and miss with vaccines," Brazil said. "This year, we have viruses circling out there that are not in the vaccine. The strains they put in are hit and miss as to what's out there."

That doesn't mean people shouldn't get a flu shot each year, he said. November is a good time to get a flu shot, even though this year the peak of the flu season hit a little later than in previous years.

Peak flu season can be anywhere from January through March, Brazil said. This year's peak is hitting in the last part of February and the early part of March.

The flu vaccine tends to wear off after four months, but even after it wears off, the body maintains a "virus memory" -- kind of like a savings account, he said. "That's why it's valuable to get the flu shot every year."

"The year everybody waits (until after November to get the flu shot) is the year (the flu virus) shows up early," Brazil added.

Arkansas City physician Kamran Shahzada noted there are many different strains within the two influenza virus types -- type A and type B. "Sometimes you have a combination (of strains)," he said.

Shahzada and Schmeidler both said that in addition to patients who have the flu they also are treating others with viral upper respiratory infections. These infections have some of the same symptoms as the flu -- harsh hack cough, fever and chills, nasal congestion.

"People (with the upper respiratory infections) usually do not have severe muscle aches as they would if they had the flu," Schmeidler said.

Schmeidler said antibiotics aren't effective for either the flu or for the viral upper respiratory infections, unless they progress to pneumonia.

People over the age of 65 and those with chronic diseases are more susceptible to getting pneumonia and should get a pneumonia vaccination, Schmeidler said. The vaccination is available locally and is good for 10 years, he said.

The typical influenza period is about 10 days, Shahzada said. "You may have the virus for one to four days before you get symptoms," he said.

Schmeidler said that even after patients start feeling better they may cough for two to six weeks because of the damage to the lungs from the infections.

The doctors suggested the following prevention strategies: get annual flu vaccinations, avoid crowded areas where there may be people who are infected, wash hands after sneezing and coughing.

Above: Graves Drug pharmacist Sydney Baker and other local pharmacists report they are busier this flu season than in previous years. They are filling more

prescriptions for those with flu symptoms and answering more questions about over-the-counter drugs than usual.