Seasonal Flu Makes a Late Appearance

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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100204/NEWS/100204014/-1/GETPUBLISHED03wp-rss2.php/Seasonal-flu-makes-a-late-Iowa-appearance

Normally, I would not post an article like this on seasonal flu, but we are not in a "normal" flu season. It is February, and we have seen very, very little seasonal flu thus far. We keep looking everywhere for it, and it just has not happened, and not just in the US but nowhere in the northern hemisphere. That makes this report newsworthy. Is it type A or B? They don't say, but the information will likely show up on the CDC website soon. I expect that reports in other locales will follow soon as no one lives in a vacuum. All we know is that it is NOT swine flu.

Seasonal vax is still available in most locations, and everyone knows of course that you can still get plenty sick from seasonal flu. Healthcare employers are not going to be happy if you call out from it, if you have not been vaccinated. On my floor, they won't be happy if you call out, period, and that is the sorry truth so I can expect that as per usual, people will be coming in sick.

Stay tuned for more cases coming soon somewhere in the northern hemisphere.

The Iowa Department of Public Health announced this afternoon that the state had its first confirmed case of the disease this winter.

In the past five years, seasonal flu has shown up in Iowa between Nov. 2 and Dec. 10. By now, the seasonal-flu wave is usually in full swing.

The health department said the first seasonal-flu case involved a Story County woman in her 30s, with no medical conditions that would make her susceptible to complications.

(hat tip flutrackers/Pathfinder)

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