Keeping your hands clean can help stop the spread of germs.
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No other details were immediately known.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday that the Health Department has established 41 free flu vaccine clinics across the state, including two in the Lehigh Valley.
The CDC says 1 in 13 doctor visits last week was for flu symptoms.
Flu-related hospitalizations rose to about 60 people out of every 100,000 in the fifth week of 2018, the CDC said. In general, viruses in the influenza B family cause less serious illness than those in the A group. This does not mean that it kept 36 percent of the people who got it from getting sick at all.
A total of 63 children in the United States have died of influenza this season, and three-quarters of them did not get a vaccine, said Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It seems like it’s a little bit lighter on the West Coast”.
“It points out that we have an H3N2 vaccine problem more than we have a flu vaccine problem”. That strain, which always poses a vaccine challenge, is behind three quarters of verified flu cases so far this season, CDC said.
“We have both of mix of influenza A and B at the same time”.
So, asthmatics should consider getting a flu shot in addition to their monthly refills of Advair, Ventolin or other asthma-fighting pharmaceutical. OR and Hawaii, the exceptions, both recorded regional activity for the fifth week of the year. The doctor may prescribe antiviral medications, which work best when started early in the illness.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, “We are seeing record-breaking numbers of flu cases”, said Dr. Paul Biddinger, vice chairman for emergency preparedness. Many people infected are not tested for the virus, health experts said. More than 13 percent of all deaths that occurred in Honolulu during week four were related to pneumonia or influenza.
NY state has seen record numbers of flu cases this season.
And the worst is probably not over, she said. “We urge you more than ever to make sure you are washing your hands frequently, staying home when sick to prevent the spread of the disease to others, and if you have not already done so, to go get your flu vaccine”.
“Usually the vaccine in and of itself gives you maybe a mild, flu-like syndrome, which is your body fighting and making those protective immune responses to the vaccine itself”.
St. Peter’s is now asking visitors to check in at nurses’ stations if they are visiting a patient.
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“The commercial supply is there”, she said, so dipping into the strategic national stockpile is not necessary.
