INFLUENZA: FIRST CASES IN MISSOURI DIAGNOSED IN SCOTT COUNTY

Two Scott County youngsters suffered the first confirmed influenza cases in Missouri.

The children, both 3, were diagnosed with type A influenza last month through the rural health clinic at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, which provides health-care services for children.

So far, four influenza cases have been confirmed in the state, said Mary Kay Hager of the Missouri Department of Health.

Hager said 417 influenza cases were confirmed in Missouri's 1996-97 flu season. Influenza infections are confirmed through blood tests or throat cultures.

"We've always cultured the kids at our kids' clinic," said Charlotte Craig, director of the county health center. "We're one of the state's surveillance sites."

Eleven surveillance sites have been designated for tracking influenza around the state, Hager said. More than 600 such sites have been set up around Missouri to track influenza-like illnesses.

Craig said that once her staff confirms an influenza infection, they notify the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society, which in turn notifies all local physicians that the virus is present.

"That does make a difference in how they treat patients with flu-like symptoms," Craig said.

It should also make a difference in how anyone worried about getting the flu acts, Craig said.

"People need to take heed if they're feeling bad," she said. "They need to contact their doctors. They need to take care of themselves and get lots of rest and lots of fluids. They need to stay home so they don't infect their co-workers."

Hager said the state's statistics on confirmed influenza cases may be misleading, because not everyone who gets sick gets a confirming diagnosis.

"These are cases where you have either a blood test or throat culture, and they're sent to our lab," Hager said. "This number does not reflect the true number of flu cases that occurred last season."

The actual number of cases could be much higher because not everyone sees a physician or the physician may not be part of the state's surveillance system, Hager said.

More than 44,600 cases of influenza-like illnesses were reported in Missouri during the 1996-97 flu season.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention track influenza cases nationally, and predicts which strains of flu will be most prevalent in a given year. The flu vaccines available every year are made up based on those predictions.

The state's surveillance helps make those predictions more accurate, Hager said.

"We use the surveillance system to see what type of influenza is most prevalent, and also to determine when the flu season peaks and to compare it to last year," she said.