Flu cases have been reported in all of Connecticut's eight counties through Dec. 27: 141 in New Haven County; 137 in Fairfield County; 68 in Hartford County; 30 in Litchfield County; 24 in New London County, followed by fewer cases in Middlesex, Windham and Tolland counties.
Hospitals keep track of new cases of patients with fever or flu symptoms, and the data is aggregated in the Hospital Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System. Weekly data reports show more cases this fall than in either 2012 or 2013, but the spike in December 2013 was worse than the cases through Dec. 27, 2014, the most recent information available.
Flu cases have been "widespread" since the second week of December in Connecticut, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Widespread means it is in half or more of Connecticut's eight counties. In the first week of December, Connecticut's flu outbreak was limited to a "region," meaning at least two counties, but fewer than four.
Last week, Connecticut's U.S. senators sent a letter to the director of the Centers for Disease Control urging the agency to buy 250,000 doses of Flublok made by Protein Sciences Corp. of Connecticut. Flublok is the first flu vaccine made from DNA-derived cell cultures rather than eggs.
Protein Sciences has said its flu vaccine has a higher antibody response than traditional vaccines against Type A flues such as the H3N2 virus that mutated this year.
The flu, a seasonal respiratory illness, is spread when a person with the flu coughs, sneezes or talks, and droplets containing germs land in another person's mouth or nose.
Systemic flu symptoms include a fever and muscle aches that can last five to seven days, Bieluch said. Respiratory symptoms include a cough, congestion and sore throat, Bieluch said.
"Many people think of gastrointestinal symptoms as the flu, and while you may have an episode or two of vomiting, those are not the predominant symptoms," Bieluch said.
"Symptoms are really mostly related to your respiratory tract as well as the fevers and chills and achy-ness."
The flu season typically starts in January and peaks the same month, or February.
This year and last, the flu season started in the fall, earlier than usual, though it's not clear why, Bieluch said.
Last year was a particularly long season that didn't taper off until March or April, Bieluch said. CONTINUE READING
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