Influenza has arrived in Clark County.
For the first time this year, more than 10 percent of influenza tests have come back positive — a threshold health officials use to determine when flu transmission is occurring in the community. For the week ending Jan. 23, Clark County had a flu test positivity rate of nearly 12 percent.
“That’s a great indicator that flu is circulating,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and public health director, during a recent board of health meeting.
The flu is arriving several weeks later than it has in past years.
Last year, flu activity picked up locally during the first week of December. In the prior two years, the seasonal flu was circulating in Clark County by mid-December. The flu continued to circulate for about three months during each of those years, according to flu data compiled by Clark County Public Health.
“We’ve actually had a quiet season of influenza so far,” Melnick said.
Elsewhere in the country, flu positivity rates are already around 20 percent, he said.
Health officials encourage everyone 6 months and older to get vaccinated against the flu, and Melnick said it’s still not too late to get a flu shot.
Protect yourself from influenza
In addition to flu shots, Clark County Public Health says these everyday practices can reduce your chances of catching or spreading the flu:
Cough or sneeze into your arm or cover your nose and mouth with a tissue.
Wash your hands often with soap and water.
If you are sick, stay home and limit your contact with others.
Avoid close contact with sick people.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
“We strongly encourage people if they’ve not been vaccinated to get it,” he said.
Flu symptoms typically include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, body aches, chills and fatigue. Young children, pregnant women, people 65 and older, and people with asthma, diabetes, heart disease and other long-term conditions are at greatest risk of complications from the flu.
Better protection
The flu shot provides protection against three or four strains of the virus, depending on the type of vaccine. Early tests indicate this year’s flu vaccine is better matched to circulating strains and appears to be more effective than last year’s version, Melnick said.
The 2014-15 flu vaccine was only 19 percent effective, meaning it reduced a person’s risk of needing medical care for flu illness by 19 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year’s vaccine is about 36 percent effective, Melnick said.
“It’s less than 100 percent effective, but it’s still the best measure we have,” he said.
Last flu season, Clark County had 550 lab-confirmed influenza cases and seven outbreaks in long-term-care facilities. The flu isn’t a notifiable condition, and not everyone who is sick seeks medical care, so those case numbers represent only a fraction of the people sickened.
Clark County also reported five influenza-associated deaths during the 2014-15 flu season.
