ROCKFORD, Ill. (WREX) — Flu cases are continuing to surge both locally and around the country.
There have been at least 37 million illnesses, 480,000 hospitalizations and 21,000 deaths from flu so far this season, according to CDC estimates.
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In the Stateline, health experts said doctors’ offices have been flooded with patients experiencing severe symptoms, filling their emergency rooms and primary care facilities.
The flu can be especially dangerous to sensitive groups, including older adults, and one age healthcare providers said they are particularly seeing this year.
“So far this season nationally, not just locally, nationally we’ve had eight pediatric deaths related to the influx so a lot of people they think of influenza as being just a seasonal flu and being less risky, thinking kids will get things like that and don’t realize how severe influenza can be,” Mary O’Meara, a nurse practitioner for OSF said.
They also add certain symptoms should call for professional care.
“If they start having difficulty breathing, you can hear a wheezing, they’re lethargic, they’re not really waking up, they’re not eating, they’re not drinking, that’s time to head to the E.R.,” O’Meara said.
Those health experts said they only expect the number of cases to rise following the holidays but said it’s not too late to protect yourself.
“It will climb. It is not too late to get your flu vaccine, however, so we do encourage that. There is also a great thing that we have this year that is new. It’s not through O.S.F, but there is the flu mist company that is actually, have it available that you can actually order flu mist at home,” O’Meara said.
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