Flu season is winding down. That according to Dr. John Treanor, the head of the infectious disease division at URMC, who says it appears the cases of the more serious strain are finished, but there may still be a few cases out there of the more moderate strain.
“We went through a moderate flu season this year but looking at the numbers of positive tests in the microlab and other indications of disease activity it does appear to be definitely on the wane. That doesn’t mean it’s completely gone, but it’s clearly going away," he told WXXI News.
Treanor says the strain that was prevalent this year is called the H3 N2 variety, "...which does tend to cause more severe illnesses, more in older people than younger people, and also tends to be able to mutate away from the vaccine a little faster than the other viruses do so it’s always traditionally been the one that’s the hardest to control."
Monroe County’s Health Department says that they had 2,673 confirmed cases of flu, with 483 hospitalizations and 9 deaths, which is similar to last year. All of the deaths involved adults, and five of them were 85 or older.
Treanor says the vaccine this year was about 40 percent effective, which is pretty typical,
“The vaccine does appear to have a bigger effect at preventing the more serious outcomes due to flu. So the effectiveness of preventing flu-related hospitalizations appears to be substantially greater than the effectiveness of just preventing run of the mill illnesses.”
But Treanor says the flu is very adaptive, and can be difficult to prevent, so more vaccine research is needed.
Strong Memorial Hospital, Highland and Golisano Children's Hospitals and the Wilmot Cancer Center have all lifted their restrictions on visitors due to the flu.
