Flu season could have been worse, health officials says

Iowa's waning flu season could have been much worse because of the three influenza strains circulating, a state health official said.

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said this season's flu vaccine was a good match for all three strains of the flu, which likely lessened its severity.

Iowa's flu activity level dropped from widespread to regional for the week ending March 25, the most recent update for the state.

Quinlisk said some schools are still reporting greater than 10 percent absenteeism, but warmer weather should soon signal the end of flu season.

East central Iowa, which includes Linn, Johnson and surrounding counties, did not have any schools reporting high absenteeism that week.

Quinlisk and other experts were concerned to have the rare occurrence of three strains in circulation at once: influenza A (H3N2), 2009 H1N1 and influenza B.

Having three strains in circulation means a person could come down with the flu three times in one season.

Estimates of how many Iowans were vaccinated won't be available until later this year, but Quinlisk has heard the numbers were up.

“I certainly think it did a pretty good job this year,” she said. “The bottom line is, the vaccine did work. We didn't have the intensity of flu that we did in previous years.”

People who think they have the flu, but weren't diagnosed, could have a number of other flu-like illnesses, such as parainfluenza, adenovirus or rhinovirus, Quinlisk said.

Those respiratory viruses have symptoms similar to influenza, but the flu vaccine does nothing to prevent them, she said.

All three of the viruses, along with respiratory syncytial virus – an illness known as RSV that is more common in young children – have been identified in Iowa in recent weeks.

“Then you have to ask, did they really have the flu or one of these other things that the vaccine doesn't protect against,” Quinlisk said.

She said it is possible to contract influenza even after having a flu shot, but the illness is usually less severe.

Measles is another illness of concern in Iowa after an outbreak in Minnesota.

One young child in western Iowa is in voluntary home quarantine for two weeks after being exposed to measles in Minnesota, Quinlisk said.

While once widespread, measles is now considered a public health emergency.

So far, 14 cases have been confirmed in Minnesota. Of those, 13 have been linked to a person who acquired infection in Kenya. One patient was infected in Florida.

Some of the patients in Minnesota were old enough to be vaccinated, but were not.

Quinlisk said the Iowa child was too young to be vaccinated.

She noted that adults born before the mid-1950s probably had the measles and would be immune. Those born after 1990 were required to have measles vaccination to enter school.

“But then you have all those people in between and it's hard to say” how many Iowans are vaccinated against measles, she said.

Symptoms of measles include fever, rash and cough.

Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are needed to be fully immunized.