Feb. 21--Offices are emptying and hospitals filling as influenza reaches a peak in Connecticut, but health officials still recommend that the unvaccinated receive flu shots.
And the flu virus is notoriously difficult to predict, meaning another peak could follow, or the current high level of cases could hold steady through March, said Dr. Louise M. Dembry, hospital epidemiologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
"The numbers are starting to go up. It's hard to say what will happen," she said.
This flu season may be worse, in part, because this year's vaccine is not a good match with one of the circulating A-type influenza viruses, she said.
Also, the virus is beginning to develop resistance to the antiflu drug oseltamivir, which is sold as Tamiflu.
Almost 5 percent of the flu viruses tested this year can shrug off Tamiflu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This is an atypical year," Dembry said.
"One strain of influenza A is a very good match with the vaccine," she said. The other predominant A strain does not correspond well with the virus in the vaccine.
Consequently, people who were vaccinated developed an immune response against the H1N1 A strain, and a partial response to the H3N2 type A. The less virulent B strain in the vaccine also has been confirmed in Connecticut.
Although by now interest in flu vaccines has dropped, it still makes sense to get a shot, Dembry said. It generally takes two weeks for the body to mount an immune response after vaccination.
"Some years, there are cases into June," she said. "We could still get a second peak with the matched strain, and there is still plenty of vaccine."
Meanwhile, simple measures can protect against flu viruses.
The CDC and health experts recommend avoiding crowds, washing hands thoroughly and frequently, covering the nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing, and staying home when ill.
Every year about 5 percent to 20 percent of the population gets the flu. Influenza leads to 200,000 hospitalizations nationally, and 36,000 deaths.
Influenza is a respiratory virus and is spread primarily by droplets expelled by coughs and sneezes of the infected.
Most adults can spread the disease about one day before symptoms appear, through five days after becoming sick.
The best way to obtain vaccine now is to contact a private doctor or your primary care doctor. If they have no vaccine ask them if they know who does, Dembry said.
Colds are caused by rhinoviruses and produce milder symptoms than influenza. Colds are characterized by congestion and sore throat. Usually, colds do not produce high fevers, and generally pass in a few days to a week.
Flu is marked by the sudden onset of fever, aches and pains, general malaise, chills, cough, sore throat and headache.
Margaret LaCroix, spokesperson for the American Lung Association in Connecticut, said the less effective vaccine and timing of the outbreak are a "double whammy" that have caused widespread flu in 45 states, including Connecticut.
"If you didn't get a shot this year, get one next year," she said, to lessen the risk of infecting the elderly and very young, who are most vulnerable to flu, LaCroix said.
Immunity sometimes wanes in elderly patients, said Dr. Richard Garibaldi, hospital epidemiologist at the University of Connecticut Health Center. So it might make sense for this population to be revaccinated now, he said.
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