It’s December again and that means that millions of Americans are fighting through yet another cold and flu season. Last year at this time the public had to deal with a pandemic in wake of the emergence of the H1N1 virus, fortunately, this season is showing to be far calmer than last, this according to the state and local departments of community health. In fact, numbers are so low in the state that they are not even being counted as of now, this according to MDCH Public Information Officer James McCurtis:
“Since this season we are experiencing low activity, we are not tabulating the number of confirmed cases. I can tell you there are very few cases.”
McCurtis says that so far there have been no mutations in the virus. His expectations for the remainder of this flu season in the state sound positive.
“We expect the virus to remain sporadic and low. Hopefully people will get their flu shots and help continue to keep the number of those affected low,” said McCurtis.
This is a far cry from last year when the public was put on alert of the potential severity of the virus which resulted in a world-wide pandemic . The threat of a greater risk of complications and death had many, especially those who were considered more vulnerable, on alert. Schools with ill students were closing and those infected were urged to cover their faces with protective masks and remain in quarantine, something that has not been heard of as of yet this season.
Locally in Genesee and Lapeer Counties the numbers are low for the season. Genesee County in particular is faring better than this time last year. The county is seeing lower levels of all types of influenza activity than usual; this according to epidemiologist, Fatema Mamou of the Genesee County Health Department who very involved with last year’s pandemic response.
“It is definitely lower than what we saw this time last year which was at the end of the peak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. We are at slightly lower levels of influenza like illness activity than we normally see during a regular flu season,” says Mamou.
This news is sure to be a relief to local residents, as last year the county dealt with a high rate of infection and transmission. According to Mamou, the county had 250 confirmed cases. Although actual infection counts were probably much higher.
“It is very difficult to get an accurate number of people who were suspected to be infected. The guidelines for testing changed very rapidly and it was not mandatory for a health care provider to test for infection with 2009 H1N1 influenza in order to diagnose or treat the patient. Reporting of these diagnoses to the local health department was not required either,” said Mamou.
School reporting requirements were more aggressive and numbers were more accurate. Given this, we can see that students were hit hard with the illness as was originally predicted by the CDC.
According to Mamou, “In previous seasons during peak influenza activity we see about 3.0% of students reporting influenza like illness, so we can say that we at least saw over twice as many influenza infections than we normally see in a flu season.”
Deaths from infection were also low compared to the overall numbers. Genesee County saw 4 deaths from people who suffered complications and fit the typical case of those at highest risk.
“All of the people that died in Genesee County were over 50 years of age and had other chronic conditions that made them at higher risk of complications due to influenza infection,” says Mamou.
Lapeer County was more fortunate in the number of cases of infection and deaths from the virus.
“We had one known death associated with H1N1 in the Fall of 2009” said Stephanie Simmons, director and health officer at the Lapeer County Health Department.
Overall, the county was able to confirm 78 cases between April of 2009 and 2010. However, vaccination may have played a key role in keeping these numbers low.
“Lapeer County is very fortunate to have good relationships with community partners, and nearly 80% of vaccine that was given in this county was administered by our local physicians and pharmacies,” said Simmons.
Vaccination is one way to prevent transmission of the H1N1 virus as well as seasonal influenza as well proper hand washing. With these preventative measure perhaps the remainder of this flu season will be as calm as it started, both here in Michigan and throughout the country.
For more information and tips on prevention, visit Flu.Gov, by clicking Here
For more information on Influenza in Michigan, visit the Michigan Department of Community Health’s Wepage, Here
For more information on Influenza in the Unted States, visit Center for Disease Control Influenza page by clicking Here
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