Document text
Flu season shows signs of early arrival Health workers urge prevention Staff and wire reports To beat flu, get the shot Flu symptoms include high fever, muscle and joint aches, sore throat, dry cough and extreme weakness. The flu vaccine is still available, although it generally takes two weeks for the immune system to develop the antibodies that help fend off the disease, said Yvonne Chilcoat, a Jackson County Health Department nurse epidemiologist. People who are at particular risk from complications of the flu and who are advised to get the vaccine are: Over the age of 65. A person of any age who has a chronic illness such as kidney, lung or heart disease or asthma or any type of immune deficiency. A caregiver who could spread the disease to elderly patients or people with chronic illness. A resident of a nursing home or a foster home or any other group setting where the virus can spread. Children who have been using aspirin on a long-term basis such as for therapy, because the flu can increase the likelihood of contracting Reye syndrome. Women who are in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. People can get the vaccine through their private doctor or clinic, or from any of the flu vaccination clinics that the Jackson County Health Department is sponsoring in the Rogue Valley. Call the department at 774-8209. Flu season may be coming early this year with two cases of the virus already identified in Oregon and a Jackson County resident being tested for it. The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory has cultured a type A flu virus from a 64-year-old man from Linn County and from a 46-year-old resident of Clackamas County, the Oregon Health Division said Tuesday. One person in Jackson County may have contracted the disease while visiting the Midwest, said Yvonne Chilcoat, nurse epidemologist with the Jackson County Health Department. Other people may be getting the test through their private physicians, but the department hasn't learned about those cases, Chilcoat said. She suggested that residents -- especially people at risk -- get the flu vaccine soon. "If there is flu around, then you would like to have that flu shot at least two weeks before you're exposed," Chilcoat said. Flu season usually hits Oregon around Christmas, but may be in full stride by Halloween this year. One case does not initiate the influenza season, said Dr. Fred Hoesly, an epidemiologist with the Oregon Health Division. Hoesly, who works in acute and communicable disease prevention, said the two closely spaced cases increase the probability of an early launch. If the cases represent the beginning of flu season this winter, it would be the earliest start since the state began keeping electronic records in 1988, Hoesly said. The next earliest was the 1992-93 flu season, which began in late October. The samples were taken from the patients on Oct. 10 and Oct. 16. It takes three to 21 days for a viral specimen to grow large enough for virologists at the public health laboratory to confirm it. Neither man had recently traveled outside the state, so the exposures took place in Oregon. There was an outbreak of the flu on Alaskan cruise ships that started in May and continued through the summer and early fall, Chilcoat said. Some Rogue Valley residents were exposed to the virus while taking those cruises, Chilcoat said. "I do know of one couple who had contracted the flu while on one of those land-ship cruises," she said. There was also a flu outbreak on cruise ships last year, but it didn't appear to make the flu season any worse than normal in Jackson County. In September and the first three weeks of October, laboratory-confirmed influenza A infections were reported in 17 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It usually is early come, early go unless there's a double wave," Hoesly said. "That's the thing: It's unpredictable." Cases might appear with an orderly rise in frequency, peaking in about a month and then falling off. Or the season could have two peaks. In the deadly epidemic flu year of 1918, "influenza kicked up its heels in September, died away, then came back with a vengeance in December and January," Hoesly said. Another scenario: Early arrival of type A viruses followed later in the season by type B. Late October is the traditional heart of Oregon's flu vaccination period. Vaccinations are worthwhile even after flu has started spreading through the community, Hoesly said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA