Tag Archives: outbreak

Health, News

Would You Like the Real Flu or Fake Flu? Chances are Good Either Way.

outbreakSo…you, not me, but everyone else we know has gotten or had the flu this winter. But which flu? As King County Health explains, there’s a big difference between a stomach “flu” and influenza. The norovirus is the most common culprit in stomach bugs (salmonella is #2) that produce vomiting and diarrhea. There is some body ache overlap, but influenza is more likely to feel like a high fever and mean cold ganged up on you.

This winter, the nation has been beset by both. A new strain is now “accounting for about 60 percent of norovirus outbreaks,” reports the Associated Press. It’s responsible for 140 different outbreaks across the U.S. since last fall.

One trait that the norovirus shares with influenza is that its spread is fueled by close quarters — King County has seen long-term care facilities report 32 outbreaks of influenza since January 1 of this year, “compared to an average of 12 total outbreaks reported per season since 2007-2008 (peak, 21).” As of mid-January 2013, state officials have confirmed 12 influenza-related deaths, the majority of cases in senior citizens.

The only good news is at this particular moment, Washington’s pertussis outbreak has subsided a bit compared to the same time last year.

You can use Google Trends to explore “stomach flu” in Washington — if you drill down, you’ll discover that Enumclaw seems particularly hard hit, so now might not be a good time to do that restaurant tour. Real flu activity remains “intense,” Google says.

Washington’s department of health concurs: their weekly update (January 6 – 12: pdf) shows a slight increase from the preceding week: 160 confirmed cases from 144. About one-quarter of the people tested (you have to have a temperature of over 100 degrees and a sore throat or cough) are confirmed with influenza. With its more dense population, western Washington leads the eastern side of the state in total cases.

There’s not much to do about the norovirus, other than to stay hydrated, and to give yourself three days after symptoms have subsided before you think about preparing food for anyone. Cleaning up after the “symptoms” is a must: use bleach and water. Once you’ve got the flu, there’s not much to do about that, either. This year’s flu shot is turning out to be about 62-percent effective, which is better than even odds.

Health, News

Welcome to Washington, the Whooping Cough State

Chart indicating how pertussis has surpassed epidemic baseline in 2012
Chart indicating how pertussis has surpassed epidemic baseline in 2012

There are always winners and losers. Our recently dissolved state tourism board has dodged a negative publicity bullet. “Say WA“? How about “Say AHHHHH”? How would you like to persuade families to vacation in the whooping cough outbreak state? Seattle’s cruise ship industry can’t love this.

End of March 2012, the Washington State Department of Health announced that, technically speaking, whooping cough (pertussis) had reached epidemic levels. Now, almost a month later, the news is actually worse: “There have been a total of 1,008 cases reported statewide through week 16, compared to 110 reported cases in 2011 during the same time period.”

If that trend continues, for a total of 3,000 cases in 2012, it would mark the worst outbreak in 60 years in Washington, reports KING TV.

27 Washington counties have reported pertussis activity, with only twelve escaping it so far. As expected, babies are most susceptible: “Seventy-one infants under one year of age were reported as having whooping cough and eighteen of them were hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, fourteen (78%) were very young (three months of age or younger).” In terms of absolute cases, the leading age group is from five to thirteen years of age, with 449 children with whooping cough.

MyNorthwest.com’s Josh Kerns notes that “vaccines are available to all Washington children under 19 years old through health care provider offices participating in the state’s Childhood Vaccine Program.” By middle school and high school, the original pertussis vaccine will have started to wear off, so a booster shot is probably a good idea.

As always, California got there first. CNN notes, in their earlier story about Washington’s pertussis epidemic:

In 2010, whooping cough infected 9,000 people and killed 10 infants in California, in the worst outbreak in the state in 60 years. California passed a law requiring all students in the 7th to 12th grade to get the Tdap booster shot.

You can’t say you weren’t warned. The state’s department of health has been issuing alarms about the rise in pertussis incidence for some time; The SunBreak published a story last year on the trend, in mentioning the state’s leadership in parent-excused vaccinations. By February of this year, it was already clear it was going to be bad.