By Blythe Bernhard
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
ST. LOUIS — Hospitals are jammed and school desks are empty this week thanks to a large spike in flu and similar illnesses.
On Tuesday, St. Louis County health officials reported an additional 400 flu cases in just the last week. There have been twice as many confirmed flu cases in eastern Missouri so far this season compared to the last five years, according to the state health department.
The 712 confirmed flu cases in the area since October represent just a small percentage of actual illnesses, since not all sick people go to the doctor and not all doctors report positive test results to local health departments.
Flu outbreaks are common in late January and early February, but this year is shaping up locally to be worse than most. Missouri health officials are working on a public health advisory for doctors in the St. Louis area, reminding them to watch for symptoms and track cases.
Emergency rooms and hospital beds across the region are overloaded with hacking, feverish patients. Waiting times to see a doctor have reached five hours in some cases, and patients lined up on cots in hallways when beds became scarce.
At peak times on Monday, 14 or 15 St. Louis-area hospitals were in diversion mode, turning away ambulance patients.
“For eight months, diversion in the area had been unbelievably low, and this month it has just exploded,” said Dr. Dennis Keithly, chairman of the emergency department at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center. “Yesterday there were more hospitals on diversion at one time since any time we’ve been recording it.”
The number of flulike illnesses also increased significantly this week at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City, said spokesman John Winkelman. Since Sunday, about 60 people a day have been coming to the emergency department complaining of flu symptoms.
Illinois hospitals also report an influx of flu patients. At Anderson Hospital in Maryville, signs were posted asking visitors exhibiting flu or cold symptoms to refrain from stopping by patients’ rooms.
Most people with flulike symptoms have been given fluids for dehydration and sent home with instructions to rest, take aspirin or acetaminophen and drink plenty of nonalcoholic beverages.
Some people are blaming the wacky weather for the flu outbreak. But there’s no proof that changes in the temperature outside will cause you to catch the flu. The reason more people get sick in the winter is because they spend more time indoors with other people and their germs, says Dr. George Griffing, a SLUCare internist.
Take schools, for example. In the Ferguson-Florissant district, nearly 20 percent of the 13,000 students were absent each day last week for flu-related symptoms. The average absentee rate is below 5 percent, district officials said.
It’s almost too late to get a flu shot, doctors say, because chances are you’ll be exposed to the virus before you build up immunity to it. The flu is here, and aside from lots of hand washing and coughing into your sleeve, there’s not much we can do about it.
“The only way to prevent it is to stay away from human beings and that won’t work,” Keithly said.