HELENA — This flu season has been a difficult one. Not only are a lot of people getting sick, but more people are getting very sick this year.
Helena-area doctors are seeing a lot of flu, and complications related to it.
“Influenza is clearly the big player this year,” Dr. Tom Strizich said.
Strizich is a provider with Partners in Pediatrics, and he said while other illnesses like respiratory syncytial virus, pertussis and human metapneumovirus are going around, they are not as common as influenza this season.
“This is the worst influenza season that I’ve personally seen in 25 years since the swine flu pandemic,” Strizich said.
Actually, swine flu is what doctors at St. Peter’s Health Hospital are seeing.
“Influenza A, mainly, when we take a look at it a little more in-depth, it’s the 2009 H1N1 twin flu strain,” St. Peter’s Health hospitalist physician Dr. Robert Smith said.
That strain of flu is not just getting people sick, it’s sending more to the hospital typical flu seasons.
“We’re getting about one to two hospitalizations a day, which makes up about 15 percent of our hospital load,” Smith said.
The flu can lead to other health issues, and that’s something doctors are seeing in kids this flu season.
“We’re seeing a lot of secondary bacterial infections, in particular like pneumonia,” Strizich said. “We’re doing x-rays, we’re diagnosing pneumonia quite a bit.”
Flu season can start as early as October and stretch into April.
There are things people can do to protect themselves from getting sick.
“We recommend people get the flu shot,” Smith said.
Getting the flu shot does not necessarily prevent the flu, but it can help mitigate an infection.
“That illness that you get might be much more mild,” Strizich said.
