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"DRASTIC DECREASE" IN H1N1 FLU

All those months of being told to wash your hands and all those vaccination clinics seem to be paying off in the QCA. Scott County is reporting a "drastic decrease" in H1N1 flu. There's not been a single reported case in weeks.

"It's been a great response from the schools," says Roma Taylor with the Scott County Health Department. The County's recent in-school vaccination clinics have gotten a response rate at each school of up for 40%. The national average is 29%.

"The schools have been great," Taylor says, "and covering that key population is part of the reason why we're hearing so little about H1N1 now."

It's a much different story with parents. A recent poll shows 61 percent of all adults have not been vaccinated - and don't plan to be. Ironically, the most common reason given for that is that with so few H1N1 cases out there now, many adults don't see H1N1 as a threat anymore.

That, Taylor says, could be a big mistake. "I don't think the worst is behind us. We have to remember the outbreak that took place in Mexico happened in the spring."

The flu can strike in Iowa as late as May.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- A state health officials said Wednesday that Iowa had 41 confirmed deaths and 659 hospitalizations attributed to H1N1.

State epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk said Wednesday that nearly 400,000 Iowans were estimated to have had flu-like symptoms between Sept. 1, 2009, and April 30. That's about 13 percent of the state's 3 million residents.

Quinlisk said H1N1 met the definition of a pandemic, but probably not what people expected. It was milder than anticipated, fewer people were hospitalized and fewer people died.

Quinlisk said because a large number of Iowans were vaccinated or exhibited symptoms, H1N1 likely will be categorized with other seasonal flu strains.

She adds it likely will be later this year before health agencies declare the risk of pandemic is over.

Iowa Influenza Surveillance Network (IISN)
Influenza‐like Illness (ILI) and Other Respiratory Viruses
Weekly Activity Report‐ Condensed
For the week ending July 17 2010, Week 28

Iowa Statewide Activity Summary
One additional case of seasonal influenza A (H3) in a 3 years old female was identified in Delaware County this week. It has no apparent connection to the previous two cases of influenza A (H3) that was identified in Johnson County last week. Though it is not unusual to identify a few sporadic cases of flu in the summer months, health care providers should be aware of the possibility for influenza infection in patients. Recent cases of influenza A H3, both travel‐associated and endemic, have been reported by neighboring states including MN, IL, WI, MI, and AK.

The virus evidently isn't the flu, because neither Iowa nor Nebraska has had a single lab-confirmed case of influenza in recent weeks.

Gupta said she has had a couple of patients test positive for the flu through a rapid test in the office involving a nasal swab. Such tests aren't considered official confirmation by the State Health Department, which requires a positive test at one of several labs.

While no influenza deaths are report in Iowa yet this season, the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health says it likely won’t be long. Epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk says the number of Iowans being hospitalized with the flu doubled in the past week and she’s becoming alarmed, as there have been several flu fatalities in other states nearby, including a few in Minnesota.

“It’s just a matter of time before we start seeing people dying of the flu here in Iowa,” Dr. Quinlisk says. “Since we have the H1N1 strain going around, and that’s a strain that hits children particularly hard, it may be that we start seeing children getting very sick and perhaps even dying again this year, like we did last year. It’s really important that we get those school-age children vaccinated.”

She says surveillance by state health officials found three separate strains of flu are continuing to be found in Iowa this season.

The Iowa Department of Public Health says the influenza hospitalization rate more than doubled in the past week.

Department medical director Patricia Quinlisk says that although the number of people hospitalized with the flu is small, the increase is significant.