Health leader predicts severe flu season in Iowa

Iowa's public health medical director is concerned that the state will experience a particularly harsh flu season, after three strains of influenza have already been identified in Iowa.

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said it's rare that the state would see three flu strains circulating.

“I don't remember a time in my career when we started the season with all three strains,” she said. “That's very atypical and that concerns me.”

Quinlisk said typically only one strain is in circulation, with a second sometimes arriving at the tail end of the season.

With three strains circulating, a person could get the flu three times in a single season.

On the positive side, Quinlisk said this year's vaccine appears to be a good match for all three strains: an influenza A (H3N2) virus, an influenza B virus and the 2009 H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season.

The strains appear to be affecting different age groups.

For example, H1N1 hit school-aged children particularly hard and the H3N2 strain has already claimed the lives of two elderly Minnesotans, Quinlisk said.

“The B is so new I don't know who that's going to hit,” she said.

Quinlisk said the A strains, including H1N1, are thought to be more severe than B strains, but both have the same symptoms: respiratory difficulties; high fever; sore throat and cough.

Iowa's most recent surveillance, for the week ending Nov. 27, boosted flu activity to a “sporadic” level, up from no activity the previous week.

The few lab-confirmed cases in the latest survey represent only a small percentage of actual numbers because most people don't seek medical care for the flu.

Quinlisk said some Iowans have already been hospitalized and that the cases are not confined to one area.

“People are really getting sick all over the state,” she said.

Iowa's flu season generally peaks in late January, after people have returned from holiday vacations and children are back in school.

Quinlisk noted that for the first time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the flu vaccine for everyone, ages 6 months and older.

It's particularly important for infant caregivers and family members to be immunized, she said.

People who are vaccinated now could have immunity by the upcoming holidays, a time when flu tends to spread.

Even those who had the flu last year should get a flu shot, Quinlisk said, because having one type doesn't provide immunity for the other strains. Also, immunity tends to quickly wane, she said.