No Epidemic in County : It May Feel Like Flu but It’s Likely Not

You may be miserable with all the usual symptoms of the flu--aches, pains, cough, fever and respiratory congestion--and everybody you know may feel just the same.

It may have been that way for weeks, and it may even be the flu.

But, despite all that, Los Angeles County is not in the midst of a flu epidemic and, with every passing day, it appears less likely the area will experience one this winter, according to county health officials.

Dr. Betty Agee, chief of acute communicable diseases for the county Health Department, said Monday that all the signs are good as Los Angeles enters the second half of the flu season.

For one thing, county officials have identified only four cases of influenza--all in children. Two are influenza A and two are influenza B.

There may, of course, be more. For the most part, doctors do not bother with the throat cultures and blood tests needed to pin down the disease and there is no requirement that they report their findings to the Health Department, Agee said.

Influenza B Is More Prevalent This Year

Agee said indications are that influenza B is more prevalent this year. B-type is the easier form of flu for patients to live with and doctors to treat.

“Influenza B is milder,” Agee said. “It tends to cluster in nursing homes and other groups of people.”

Agee said reports from convalescent homes have indicated no major outbreaks. There have been some calls, “but the phones here are not jumping off the hook with reports of deaths of elderly persons.”

The county’s mortality rate for influenza and pneumonia is running at about 4%, average for this time of year.

“Once we get above 5% we know we have something abnormal, and we call it an epidemic at 7% or 8%,” she said.

“The later we get an outbreak of influenza in Los Angeles County, the less it portends a bad flu season,” Agee said, adding, “You have to believe that we passed the worst part of the season.”

The season runs from December through March. That, of course, is not going to make anyone suffering with flu-like symptoms feel better.

Agee’s advice for them is pretty standard. She prescribes rest, lots of liquids, aspirin (children, she said, should be treated with aspirin substitutes, because of studies linking aspirin with Reye’s Syndrome)--and patience.