FLU REPORTS DOWN FROM A YEAR AGO

Only two cases of flu have been reported to Cape Girardeau County's public health officials in the last month despite a delay in vaccine shipments that set shot clinics back by weeks.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department, said the low number is even more surprising considering the major flu outbreak this time last year.

"Last year in December, we were dropping like flies in Cape County with the flu," she said. "I can't remember how many cases there were, but it was significant."

By the end of December last year, more than 600 confirmed cases of flu were diagnosed in Missouri.

This fall, the first case of flu in Cape Girardeau County was reported Nov. 30 when a 2-year-old child was diagnosed. Another case was diagnosed and reported the week of Dec. 4.

Diagnoses of flu and other communicable diseases are reported by doctors to county health departments.

Statewide, flu reports are at a minimum. Officials expect the rate to pick up at least by January, a traditional month for flu outbreaks.

Although the flu may not yet be circulating in the area, Craig said colds and viruses with flu-like symptoms are going around.

"There is an upper respiratory infection going around, and you feel really bad with it, but that's not what we're talking about when we say influenza Type A," she said.

Shipments of flu vaccine, which have been delayed this season, continue to arrive at area clinics and doctors' offices.

Judy Laurentius, director of the Perry County Health Department, said she finally received the vaccines she ordered. The Health Department had vaccination clinics Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and still has a few doses of the vaccine available.

Donna Hefner, a registered nurse at the Jackson Family Clinic, said the clinic received its first shipment about two weeks ago and was able to provide 40 shots to the highest-risk patients.

She said the clinic received another shipment a few days ago and has given more than 100 vaccinations already. Shots at the clinic are $12 each -- what most area doctors are charging.

"We were fortunate because the flu season is late itself because of the warm weather," Hefner said. "Since cold weather is upon us, we hope everyone will go ahead and get their shots and not think it is too late."

Craig said the Health Department has about 100 doses of the flu vaccine left. Nurses are providing the vaccines on a walk-in basis.

She said people who traditionally get flu vaccinations at the Health Department have been patient and supportive during the delays.

"The public understood," she said. "They didn't like it, but they were very supportive. I don't think you can ask for better residents than you have in Cape Girardeau County because that was a hard pill to swallow."

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu is associated with more than 100,000 hospitalizations and more than 20,000 deaths nationwide each year. Flu, technically called influenza, is an infection of the respiratory tract caused by the influenza virus.

Typical symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, muscle aches and extreme fatigue.

Although Craig is somewhat baffled by the low number of flu cases being reported, she suspects there is a higher power at work.

"Maybe it's the good Lord taking care of everybody because of this flu vaccine mess," she said.