Flu shots urged for at-risk groups

A particularly virulent flu season appears to have arrived early this year, and those who are at high risk of catching the disease who have not yet received a flu vaccine are encouraged to do so by health and school officials from San Joaquin County, Lodi and Galt. Local supplies of the vaccine are still available although both of the national manufacturers are out.

An average of about 36,000 people die from the flu every year in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control is expecting more this year due to a particularly pestilent strain. Reports of the flu came as early as September in the Western states this year said Kathy Tully, coordinator for immunization of the San Joaquin County Public Health Services.

Those who are considered at high risk of coming down with the flu include people over the age of 60; 6 months or older with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease and blood disorders; pregnant women in their second and third trimester; and individuals giving care to people in these high-risk categories.

Also, kids from 6 months to 18 years in age on long-term aspirin therapy are strongly encouraged to get the influenza vaccine.

In Lodi, the Lodi Memorial Hospital has reached its capacity with sick patients with a recent spike in illness suspected to be due to the flu, said Carol Farron, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

"The hospital is really crowded," Farron said Monday. Over the weekend, some patients waited up to 24 hours to get a bed in the hospital, she said. Many were elderly patients with compromised immune systems.

The hospital is expecting more sick patients as the flu season continues, Farron said.

"This is the time of year it generally starts and, unfortunately, it stays with us into the middle of January," she said.

The hospital is nearly out of flu vaccinations. There are 450 left out of 7,000, Farron said.

"They're going pretty quickly," Farron said.

Lodi Memorial Hospital's supplier for flu vaccines, ASD Healthcare, is completely out of vaccines said Harold Williams, a representative for the company. ASD is supplied by the Chiron Corp., one of only two manufacturers of the flu vaccine in the United States. The other is Aventis Pasteur, a unit of the large French drug company Aventis SA. The CDC announced that both companies were out of vaccines on Friday.

The flu may also affect staff at the Lodi Memorial hospital this year and it is coming at a particularly difficult time due to a shortage of nurses there, Farron said. On Jan. 1, the hospital will have to comply with a law passed in 1999 that will require the hospital to staff its nurses by number of patients.

The hospital is having difficult complying with the new law and had closed some beds in anticipation that the ratios would not be met. Over the weekend, four of those beds that had been closed were opened and were immediately filled, Farron said.

"If we lose some nurses because they're home sick with the flu, it already exacerbates the shortage of nurses that are able to care for sick people," Farron said. "We have a lot of staff that's sick."

The San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp has also seen an increase in the flu.

"It has been an early season for us this year. We seem to be seeing more complications and more severe symptoms," said Troylene Sayler, the hospital's spokeswoman.

These symptoms included high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, a severe cough, congestion and the chills. If the symptoms persist for more than three days a doctor should be consulted, Sayler said.

The vaccine is available through the county Public Health Services office for high risk groups that qualify.

At least one school at the Lodi Unified School District has felt the affects of an early flu season this year. At Heritage Elementary School, the number of children absent due to flu-like symptoms has been exceptionally high, Principal Maria Cervantes said.

"Students are absent for several days," Cervantes said.

District-wide officials said they had not determined yet whether the flu has hit attendance hard.

"As of yet were not seeing vast numbers of children with the flu but this is the very beginning," LUSD Assistant Superintendent Catherine Pennington said. Pennington urged parents to consult family doctors and get flu shots if they had not yet done so.

In the Galt Elementary district, there have certainly been more students that have come in with flu symptoms, said Marta Cuevas-Ortega, Health Services coordinator for the Galt Joint Union Elementary District.

All officials are encouraging getting a flu shot this year. Although the vaccination is not matching the strain going around, it can lessen symptoms of the disease, health officials say.