Friday, December 17, 1999
Hospitals and doctors busy, but it's not flu
Few cases confirmed in area so far
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The flu season has officially begun in Greater Cincinnati, but so far, illnesses have not been swamping the health care system as they have in recent winters.
The Ohio Department of Health earlier this week reported “sporadic” flu activity in Ohio. Of six confirmed cases of influenza reported so far to the state, one involved a Cincinnati patient, said spokesman Randy Hertzer. All the samples studied so far have been Type A, Sydney-like strain — a strain that appears covered by this season's flu vaccine.
In the past two winters, waves of people with influenza and other winter illnesses swamped several area hospitals, forcing them to divert some patients to other hospitals. Things aren't that intense yet, said Nancy Strassel, a spokeswoman for the Greater Cincinnati Health Improvement Collaborative, which runs an annual flu shot campaign.
Influenza is an upper respiratory infection marked by fever, cough, aches and chills (but not much vomiting) that can lead to potentially deadly pneumonia in frail senior citizens and other people with weak immune systems.
Rather than the real flu, some local doctors and hospitals report their waiting rooms and beds are beginning to fill up with a wide variety of winter miseries, such as colds, sinus infections, strep throat, diarrhea-causing intestinal bugs and other viruses.
Jewish Hospital in Kenwood has been particularly busy.
From 11 p.m. Monday until 7 a.m. Wednesday, the hospital emergency department was diverting ambulances to other hospitals. All the Jewish Hospital general medical-surgical beds and all but one of its intensive care beds were full Tuesday, said Pat Samson, a spokeswoman for the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati.
However, no one illness was causing the rush of patients and very few cases involved people with the flu, Ms. Samson said.
Nationwide, during the week ended Dec. 4, 37 states including Ohio and Indiana had reported sporadic flu activity. Nine states reported regional activi ty. Four, including Kentucky, had no flu. No state reported widespread activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many doctors are predicting that the flu will pick up in January after the holidays.
Last year, the U.S. flu season peaked in late January and stayed high well into February, the CDC reported.
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