Doctors Fear Oregon May Be Blindsided by Flu

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Taya Alami, GoLocalPDX Reporter

The current influenza vaccine has been ineffective at preventing the kinds of viruses responsible for more than 98 percent of the confirmed flu cases tested by Oregon Public Health officials this season, causing doctors to fear the state could find itself blindsided by a particularly devastating outbreak.

“I’m fearful that this year might be worse than usual.” Dr. Paul Cieslak, the medical director of Communicable Disease Prevention for the Oregon Health Authority, said. “It looks like flu activity is definitely picking up.”

Cieslak said that in the three counties surrounding Portland, 17 flu patients were hospitalized last week — up from 14 cases the previous week.

A total of 71 flu patients in the Portland have been hospitalized since Oct. 1, according to Ceislak, who added that this is an increase from this time last year.

Since the flu season officially began in October, Oregon has fared better than most states, according to data from the Center for Disease Control. However, the state’s public health division stated that the flu typically arrives in Oregon later than it does in most of the country.

“The flu surprises us every year,” Ceislak said. “We do this pattern — the flu seems to start in the Southeast and then it comes our way.”

Approximately 67.4 percent of flu cases recorded around the U.S. this season are known as Influenza A, H3N2 — a strain of the virus associated with more severe illnesses and higher mortality rates. In Oregon, the state public health lab has reviewed 114 confirmed cases of influenza and 112 of them have been H3N2, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

However, this year's vaccine was designed with different viruses in mind than the new strain of H3N2, which doesn't currently have a widely available vaccine, according to the World Health Organization.

Vulnerability

The the elderly are most susceptible to the current strain of the flu, according to Ceislak. Elderly patients who contract H3N2 have had a higher mortality rate than elderly patients who came down with a different strain of the virus, Cieslak said.

“It’s not our happiest strain to have,” Cieslak said. “For the older (patients), it tends to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Young children are also especially susceptible to this year’s flu, acording to CDC data.

The CDC's latest weekly flu surveillance report stated that influenza been responsible for 15 pediatric deaths across the country this season, with none so far in Oregon, Cieslak confirmed. The state's public health authority also tracks the statistic.

Preventing an outbreak

There's no data on whether any of Oregon’s flu patients fell ill after being vaccinated. However, there have been some media reports of people contracting the flu despite getting being vaccinated.

“Flu vaccines are not 100 percent perfect,” Ceislak said.

The state won’t know how effective the vaccine was in combatting this year’s flu until the season ends in Spring. However, people should still get their flu shot, as there is some overlap between different strains of the virus, Ceislak said.

To combat the reduced effectiveness of immunization, the CDC recommended that individuals who are at a high risk and patients who have been hospitalized for their flu symptoms use antiviral drugs as a second line of defense against the illness.

“Influenza vaccination still offers the best way to prevent seasonal flu,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said.

There are a number of personal preventative measures people can take to reduce their risk that don’t involve antiviral drugs.

“By all means, stay home when you’re sick,” Ceislak said. “Especially this year, when the vaccine isn’t working so well.”

Ceislak also said everyone - even healthy people - should be washing their hands on a frequent basis, as patients carrying the virus can be contagious before showing any symptoms.

“With a lot of these respiratory illnesses, we’re seeing that a lot of times patheogens are spread, not by our cough, but by covering our cough with our hands,” Ceislak said. “Hand washing is important, especially this season since the vaccine isn’t working so well.”

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