CENTRE — It is a topic that news outlets across the nation are talking about almost nightly: This year's flu season is a really, really bad one in many parts of the United States. And you can add northeast Alabama to the list of hard-hit areas.

According to Cherokee Medical Center CEO Patrick Trammell, his 60-bed facility in Centre has seen a big increase in the number of patients in its emergency room over the past several weeks. Many have exhibited flu-like symptoms, which typically include the following: severe body aches; fever; generalized weakness; flushed skin and red, watery eyes; headache; dry cough; and sore throat.

“From November through this week, in terms of symptoms that were labeled flu-like in our ER,” Trammell explained on Thursday, “we've seen about 80 patients, compared to around five by this time last year. We're staffed appropriately and our E.R. is doing an exceptional job managing the increased volume.”

While Trammell cautions that the proper symptoms don't necessarily indicate the flu virus, the situation in Cherokee County reflects the rest of the country. On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc.gov), the latest flu map indicates 47 states have reached the “widespread” category of influenza activity, an increase from 41 states the week before. Nationwide, 20 children have died.

In Boston, four seniors had died from the flu by last week, and over 700 have been sickened. NBC News reported last week that a hospital in Delaware was so overrun with patients complaining of flu-like symptoms that staffers set up a temporary triage unit in the parking lot. The CDC site reports that flu season typically peaks by February in the U.S., but “can begin as early as October and continue as late as May.”

Trammell, who cautioned that flu season in northeast Alabama sometimes doesn't end until April, said there is really no sound medical explanation for the stark contrast in the prevalence of flu this season compared to a year ago.

“It really is just a matter of how the virus moves through communities and the strains we see during a particular season,” Trammell said. “Anecdotally, I've even read that the way the holiday season coincided with the onset of flu this season contributed to the spread. I don't think anyone really knows yet.”

He added: “More and more it seems like every few years, for some reason we have a ‘rough’ flu season—and this is one of them.”

On Friday, the CDC offered the first indication that the spread of this year's flu strain may have begun to decline. It reported that 24 states were experiencing high levels of flu, down from 29 states the week before.
Trammell said it's still not too late to contact your health care provider and receive a flu shot.

“If you get vaccinated, even if you contract a different strain of the flu, manufacturing some antibodies can shorten the intensity and duration of the flu you might contract,” he said.

Trammell said common-sense precautions for “infection control” are highly recommended, given the intensity the 2012-13 flu season.

“You want to wash your hands religiously, sneeze into your sleeve, those types of things,” he said. “If you think you have the flu, call your healthcare provider and stay away from your co-workers, or schoolmates, until you find out if you do.”