Hawai'i health officials see seasonal spike in flu cases
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
Flu season arrived late this year but is hitting Hawai'i hard.
That's the word from state Health Department officials, who are seeing a spike in the number of suspected and confirmed flu cases. Requests for laboratory tests surged to about 300 a week in February, 50 percent higher than the usual seasonal peak of 200.
Dr. Paul Effler, chief of the Health Department's communicable disease division, said doctors are paying close attention to influenza-like illnesses because of an alert issued last month about a new strain of flu in Asia that claimed the life of a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the two confirmed human cases of avian (bird) influenza A (H5N1) caused the man's death and hospitalized his 9-year-old son.
Dr. Francis Liu, chief of infectious disease medicine for Kaiser Permanente-Hawai'i, said that any sign of a disease in Asia prompts concern for Hawai'i because "we're the closest port of entry."
A new strain of flu is especially worrisome because no one is immune, giving it the potential to harm or kill many. The 1918 flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide, including an estimated 500,000 Americans.
In 1997, an outbreak of influenza A in Hong Kong resulted in the hospitalization of 18 people, six of whom died. Transmission occurred that year from people who had direct contact with birds. To remove the source of the virus, authorities destroyed about 1.4 million chickens.
Effler said people with the flu have fevers, headaches, body aches, feel very tired and usually miss more than a couple of days of school or work. The CDC is reporting flu activity throughout the country at moderate to high levels. State laboratory officials said about 10 percent of the tests in February were confirmed as flu, most of them influenza A.
Liu said the flu season started slowly this year but came on strong last month.
"It was a very, very quiet year," he said. "December and January were amazingly light."
That changed in February, Liu said, with Kaiser clinics treating flu cases that ran the gamut from people needing to be hospitalized to those missing a few days of work or school. He said that Kaiser officials saw a lot of children with the flu.
Liu said the reports serve as a reminder that "it's still not too late to get a flu shot." And he noted the CDC's recent recommendation of vaccination for children ages 6 months to 23 months. He said the cases seem to be slowing down this week but that he's seen seasonal spikes in May and June.
In January, the CDC reported annual flu deaths believed to be significantly higher than previously reported. Using improved statistical models, CDC scientists now estimate that an average of 36,000 people (up from 20,000 in previous estimates) die from influenza-related complications each year in the United States.
Effler also encourages flu shots, which may not prevent the disease in everyone but can help lessen its severity, which can be of critical importance in the frail or elderly.
"You tend to have a much milder illness," he said.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
