Flu continues to spread in North Texas, county says

Got body aches? Cough? Fever? An overall feeling like being hit by a bus?

Could be the flu.

The number of people showing up in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms with flu-like symptoms continues to increase, health officials said Tuesday.

“It is out and about,” Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said. “It is widely circulating in the community.”

The percentage of flu-like illnesses reported in the county rose from 9.8 percent earlier in December to 11.3 percent Dec. 14-20, according to the latest weekly surveillance report from Tarrant County Public Health.

Nationally, deaths due to flu and pneumonia have hit “epidemic” levels, and flu “activity” is widespread in 36 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials reported 837 flu and pneumonia deaths to the CDC through its 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System during the 51st week of the year. Those deaths accounted for 6.8 percent of the 12,358 total deaths that week, just meeting the epidemic threshold.

At least 2,643 people have been hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu since Oct. 1, the CDC reported. That works out to 9.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 Americans.

More than 95 percent of hospitalizations this flu season were the result of the H3N2 strain, according to the CDC. Years dominated by H3N2 tend to involve more cases of severe illness and death, Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC director, has warned.

Get a flu shot

Dr. Mark Shelton, a pediatric-infectious-disease specialist at Cook Children’s Medical Center, said doctors are treating plenty of adults and children with flu-like illnesses.

“This is going to last for a while,” he said.

Cook Children’s began documenting flu cases the week of Oct. 26, according to the hospital. Since then, the hospital has tested 5,714 specimens for influenza and found 2,187 were positive for types A and B.

Last week, the hospital tested 981 specimens and had 369 positives for influenza A and one positive for influenza B. That’s up from the same period last year, when the hospital documented 240 positive specimens.

Shelton, a former Texas legislator, said the flu can be treated with antiviral prescription medications, including Tamiflu.

“It keeps the virus from multiplying,” he said.

Both he and Taneja urged people to get vaccinated.

“We want our community to participate in getting the flu shot,” Taneja said.

About 45 percent of Texans have been vaccinated, Taneja said

Health experts said that even though this year’s vaccine does not protect against one strain of H3N2, it offers protection against others.

The flu kills 4,000 to 50,000 people a year in the United States. People with certain health and age factors have a greater risk of developing serious complications, according to the CDC. People with asthma, chronic lung disease, and kidney or liver disorders are among those with a higher risk of complications.

This report includes material from the Los Angeles Times and Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Flu continues to spread in North Texas, county says."