State hacking through worst of flu season

This year's vaccination is a flawed match for current viruses it should fight

Your son can't shake his cough. At work, you're doing the tasks of three while your colleagues are home in bed. Grandma waited five hours to be seen at the hospital's emergency department last night.

Sound familiar? North Carolina is smack dab in the worst of the seasonal flu. We're at the top of a two-week peak that's forced long lines at pharmacies, long waits at doctors' offices and toppled even those smart enough to get the flu vaccine this year.

Is it the worst flu season in recent years? The ailing would declare it so. But public health officials are reluctant to say that, mainly because reports they receive from health providers come voluntarily and are not consistent year to year. Doctors insist we always think it's the worst season ever when we're in the middle of it.

Still, there are reasons why this year's flu feels so bad:

* The vaccine missed the mark. Two of the three antibodies didn't match the viruses floating around this year, said Jeff Engel, the state Division of Public Health epidemiologist. The vaccine is always a gamble because the drug is produced well in advance of the strain's appearance. This year's vaccine did help some and has tempered the severity for those who did catch the flu. But it was no sure bet.

* This winter's flu has come in a single wave. Last year, North Carolina residents endured two shallower peaks. This year, more people are sick at once. It often starts with children, who give it to parents, who pass it to co-workers. Peaks typically last two weeks; we're in the middle of this one. Engel expects the number of those infected to drop in another week.

* Flu-related deaths in early February were higher than expected, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the first full week of February, 7.6 percent of deaths at 122 reporting centers nationwide were flu- or pneumonia-related. The CDC says that rate is higher than expected this time of year.

For now, the flu is still hammering the region. Wednesday, some students in Wake County brought home a guide for parents on how to keep their children well. It urged them to not send sick kids to school and encouraged them to vaccinate if they haven't already.

Beware the dragon

Since Sunday, a third of the 2,000 patients treated at WakeMed Hospital's five emergency departments had flulike symptoms. That's up from 17 percent of their patients served over the third week in January. At the emergency department at UNC Hospitals, doctors have seen a threefold increase in the number of patients with the flu since the end of January.

The flu "always comes. It's just sort of when it comes," said Paul Hinchey, WakeMed Hospital emergency department doctor. "It's always going to be there."

At the emergency department of WakeMed Raleigh Campus at lunchtime Wednesday, 10 patients strapped masks over their mouths as they waited to be seen. A poster with a green dragon bemoaning the flu directs those sniffling and coughing to the left of the waiting area and those with broken bones, stomach cramps and everything else to the right.

While the crowds are forcing long waits in emergency departments, there's still room to check in and stay a while, state officials said. They have no reports of hospitals running out of beds, said Mark Chambers, disaster medical services coordinator for the state Division of Health Services Regulation.

Typically, though, doctors urge patients to steer clear of emergency rooms and see their regular doctor. Only the very ill -- those whose flu turned into something far more menacing, such as pneumonia -- are admitted.

At doctor's offices, modern medicine has changed the way we deal with the flu. While chicken soup and a day in bed might be Grandma's solution, your child's pediatrician will likely urge an early visit and test your child for the flu. While you wait, a doctor can perform a quick test and tell you whether Johnny has the flu. Those testing positive who have just begun their battle can load up on Tamiflu, a medicine that can fight the flu's worst symptoms.

Even these resources can go fast.

"We had so many flu cases last week that we ran out of the test," said Richard Gelber, a pediatrician at Cornerstone Pediatrics in Cary.

While a less-effective vaccine this year has caused unhappy customers, public health officials are still talking it up. In fact, they still want people to come and get vaccinated At worst, it doesn't work, Engel said. At best, you'll dodge this year's flu. If nothing else, it could shave a few sneezy, hacking days off your battle with the flu this year.