Hospital emergency departments all over New York City are swamped with patients complaining of influenza-like illnesses and flu symptoms, according to New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley. Farley told a press conference Thursday that influenza was at epidemic levels in all five boroughs of the city, CBS 2 reports. "It's a bad year," said the commissioner. The flu season began Oct. 1 and runs until May. New York state and City report health data separately. The current influenza reports for both are for Week 1 of 2013, ending Jan. 5.
New York City
New York City and the state are seeing large numbers of hospitalizations for the flu and flu complications much earlier than normal. The flu strain responsible is AH3N2, which Farley told reporters tends to be a little more severe. The match between the flu strains circulating and those covered by the 2012-13 influenza vaccine is good, however, and Farley is urging everyone who has not yet been immunized to do so. New York City characterizes flu activity as "high" . Some 5 percent of all outpatient visits for medical care were due to an influenza-like illness (ILI). ILI rates are the public health measurement of flu activity. There have been nearly 40 influenza outbreaks in long-term care facilities in the city and at least 10 deaths since Oct. 1. No children have died from influenza in the city yet this season.
New York State
Excluding New York City, the statewide ILI rate for week 1 was 6.82 percent . Since Oct. 1, 2,884 patients have been hospitalized in the state with laboratory-confirmed influenza. About half of those patients were elderly, age 65 and older. The state has seen 210 confirmed influenza outbreaks in acute care and long-term care facilities. There was one influenza-associated pediatric death reported for the week, with the total for the season being two. Long Island and the Hudson Valley had the highest ILI rates for the state.
Rochester and Monroe County
The upstate city of Rochester and Monroe County are also suffering from the influenza outbreak. The Democrat & Chronicle reports that the county has had eight adult deaths from the flu so far in the 2012-13 season. There have been 225 flu-related hospitalizations. Dr. Nayef El-Daher, of Unity Health Systems, in an interview, stated that Monroe County's ILI rate for Jan. 5 was 8 percent.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-struggles-severe-flu-outbreak-171900339.html
MC Chris Colorado shooting suspect accuweather Finding Nemo 2 Provigil denver post dez bryant
No comments:
Post a Comment