GARFIELD COUNTY, Colorado — February is the heart of influenza season according to Immunization Program Coordinator for Garfield County Public Health (GCPH), Sara Harter. So far GCPH has recorded only five hospitalizations from Dec. 21, 2007, to Feb. 25, 2008, for Garfield County.

That number may seem low, but it’s been a pretty productive flu season according to Harter.

“There are more cases than last year, but last year was unusually low,” Harter said. “But the severity of the illnesses have not been as bad.”

For the 2006-07 flu season, GCPH had six hospitalizations reported countywide, one more than this season. Hospitalization cases requiring admittance to a hospital for symptoms are the only cases reported to GCPH. But Harter said that more people diagnosed with flu-like symptoms have occurred this year.

“We don’t see sick people in our office,” Harter said. “But we do track influenza cases in the hospitals. What we’ve seen this year is that two of the three strains the vaccine protects against aren’t a perfect match.”

Each year’s flu vaccine protects against three strains of influenza. This year’s vaccine protects against A Wisconsin, B Malaysia, and the Solomon Island strains. But the vaccine has really only been perfectly matched to protect against the Solomon Island strain which, according to Harter, is the one strain hospitals have seen mostly in Garfield County.

“Two of the vaccines aren’t a perfect match to the strains that are circulating,” Harter said. “Typically there are three strains circulating and they are always hard to match all of them.”

That could contribute to a higher number of people reporting flu-like symptoms in Garfield County this season. The exact number of those cases are unknown.

But Harter said that even though the flu vaccine may not fully protect an individual from getting the flu it could lessen the severity of the illness and ultimately save a life.

“The idea (of the vaccine) is to prevent death and severe illness,” Harter said. “Even though it’s not a perfect match, it’s still a good idea to get the shot.”

The flu season runs from around the start of November through as late as April in some cases, according to Harter. And with the vaccine reserves depleting, it could be difficult to find one, but it could still prove beneficial for some to get a shot this late in the season to at least help alleviate the symptoms.

“The next couple of months we could see a couple of strains that are making people sick even with the vaccine,” Harter said.

Contact John Gardner: 384-9114
jgardner@postindependent.com