The initial spike in flu cases has piled on top of other virus outbreaks across South Carolina, creating a devastating “perfect storm” for families.
The number of hospitalized flu patients more than doubled from 41 to 97 in a week, according to the latest edition of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Management’s Flu Watch. The number of laboratory-confirmed influenza tests jumped 68.7% in one week from 1,083 to 1,827. Meanwhile, the proportion of patients reporting flu-like illness he increased from 4.3% to 5.9%, according to which he reportedly reached already high levels.
At the Sean Jenkins Hospital for Children at the Medical University of South Carolina, there has been a “huge spike in the last week or so” in children hospitalized with the flu, said Dr. Physicians typically don’t see flu epidemics this early in the season, according to Dr. Allison Eckard, director of MUSC’s Pediatric Infectious Diseases Division. It’s also “very unusual” to see an early spike in either influenza A or influenza B cases, and it’s usually just one of the two strains that emerge early. no, she said.
Pediatric hospitals are already dealing with the initial onslaught of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which usually spikes around January or February, Eckard said.
RSV positivity rates have “more than doubled” this month compared to the previous month, said Dr. Robin LaCroix, medical director at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital-Upstate in Greenville. As of October 24, he was over 20% flu-positive in children in the Greenville area and nearly 25% at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in the Midlands, Colombia. “So many children are complaining,” she said.
Dr. Anna Kathryn Burch, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in Colombia, says getting the flu shot is even more important because there are already high levels of infections. .
“Now is the time,” she said.
Also unusual is “the number of critically ill patients,” Eckard said. About a third of the patients who fill children’s hospital intensive care units and critical care beds suffer from respiratory illness, he said.And it’s hitting children’s hospitals across the country hard.
According to Mack, there are “record numbers of children needing hospitalization nationwide” and MUSC “mostly receives calls from surrounding states asking for beds for sick children.” Prisma Health is getting calls from hospitals in Georgia, North Carolina and East Tennessee asking for beds for sick children, LaCroix said.
“The demand for pediatric beds is huge,” she said.
According to the Center’s RSV Hospitalization Surveillance Network, hospitalization rates for child RSV surged in the past week in the Northeast and upper Midwest states, more than doubling in New York, increasing 75% in Michigan, and 70% in Connecticut. I’m here. For disease control and prevention.
Nationally, flu-like illnesses in both adults and children are already on the rise, much higher than at this time in the last five seasons, the CDC reports, with South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and New York.
Eckard said these virus outbreaks make for a terrifying combination.
“All of this created this perfect storm,” she said.
Following good hand hygiene and washing your hands frequently can help limit the spread of these viruses. Consider wearing a mask when going out in public in a crowd.
“It’s something we can do to help each other,” she said.
