Flu coming earlier, harsher than last year in Illinois
Illinois' flu season started earlier this year, and the most prevalent strain is also the one known for causing the most severe illness.
The Illinois Department of Public Health released figures Friday showing there have been more people getting sick, more positive lab tests and more people being hospitalized this flu season than at this point last year.
Suburban hospitals are temporarily banning visitors under the age of 18 because of an influx in the number of patients with the flu.
Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights have implemented the restrictions.
"We have seen an increased number of flu cases this season and want to take precautions to assure the health of everyone," Condell spokeswoman Sarah Toomey said.
At Northwest Community, there were 32 patients with the flu as of Friday afternoon, spokeswoman Alice Brown said. Some of them have since been discharged. Overall, a total of 256 patients were in the hospital - above the average of about 200.
Some suburban schools also are feeling the effects.
Scott Thompson, superintendent of Palatine Township Elementary District 15, said the district has seen more absences related to the flu and viruses this year. "We have sent protocols to all schools and parents," he said in an email.
The story is similar throughout Illinois. A Catholic high school in LaGrange Park closed briefly last week because a quarter of the students were absent with flu-like illnesses. So far this season, 115 people have been admitted to Illinois hospital intensive care units with the flu, according to the state health department data. Sixty-six of those admissions were in the most recent week reported, Nov. 30 through Dec. 6.
"Fever, cough, sore throat - folks have a version of that. The little ones sometimes have respiratory complications," said Eva Palmer, a registered nurse and infection prevention specialist at Carle Hospital in Urbana.
Illinois is one of 14 states where the flu is already widespread and one of six states in which doctor's offices are seeing flu-like illness at rates much higher than average, according to a national report Friday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No Illinois deaths have been attributed to complications from flu this year, but last year the season ended with about 100 deaths statewide, according to state reports. The most severe flu seasons tend to be dominated by some version of the Type A H3N2 strain, which has been detected in Illinois and other states this year.
Flu vaccine effectiveness varies from year to year. This year's vaccine isn't considered a good match for the dominant strain of Type A H3N2 flu that's circulating. But health experts still recommend getting a flu shot to protect against other circulating strains of the virus.
Besides getting a flu shot, people can reduce the spread of the virus by staying home when they're sick, washing their hands frequently and covering their coughs, said Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Shelia Porter.
• Daily Herald staff writers Melissa Silverberg and Katlyn Smith contributed to this report.