ND Health Dept. Bracing for More Flu Cases, Urging Vaccination

Following reports of increased flu activity throughout the state, the Florida Department of Health in Santa Rosa County (DOH-Santa Rosa) reminds everyone that it is not too late to get a flu shot.

The Clatsop County Public Health Department is monitoring a large number of confirmed influenza cases and as a result is urging the public to follow preventative health steps.

Even with a slow start to flu season, in part because of a mild winter and the effectiveness of the vaccine, there have been more than 40 flu-related hospitalizations in Tulsa County.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - Flu season in SC is reaching its peak and it has not been as severe as last season.

"Several cases a day of people with the flu, and these were just regular people - several of them whom had been vaccinated for the flu", said Dr. Curtis Johnson at North Hills Hospital in North Richland Hills.

The committee that gives advice on vaccine use to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recently amended its flu vaccine guidance for people with egg allergies, saying research has shown it's OK for them to get the nasal spray version made from live virus grown in eggs.

"By getting immunized against the flu, the health care worker is, in essence, building a fence to protect patients, who perhaps can't get immunized or whose immune systems are so compromised that the vaccine isn't as effective", says Richard Zimmerman, professor of family medicine". "It always differs from year to year. Flu vaccine is the best way to keep yourself and the people you love safe from the flu". "Employers should have some reasonable leniency when it comes to employees having to stay home with the flu". Flu vaccination rates among healthcare workers have increased to 66.9%, researchers said. During that period, the average flu vaccination rate for health care workers was 22.5 percent.