Sonoma County flu season could be virulent

With flu season expected to ramp up this month, local public health officials are urging Sonoma County residents 6 months and older to get a flu shot to curb the spread of the virus.

There’s still very little local transmission of the influenza virus, but infectious disease experts say this year’s dominant strain could be Influenza A’s H3 subtype, a particularly virulent virus. Early cases of H3 flu virus have been detected in various parts of the country, said Dr. Gary Green, head of infectious disease at Kaiser Santa Rosa Medical Center.

“H3 can be tough, more severe,” Green said. “If we’re seeing a little bit of early H3 influenza A then vaccination is very important.”

Green said people who contract the H3 subtype are going to become more severely ill, get higher fevers, a longer period of illness and in some cases, more severe pneumonia following the flu.

“It can be dangerous to the very young and very old,” Green said, adding that Kaiser this year is offering an amped up dose of vaccine for frail elderly patients.

Flu clinics across the county have opened in recent weeks, spearheaded by the local health department and health care providers such as Kaiser. Health officials say the more people are vaccinated the less likely they are to become severely ill or spread the illness to the most vulnerable.

Karen Holbrook, Sonoma County’s deputy health officer, said the vaccine introduces antibodies that can fight against the flu virus. Higher rates of vaccination also stem its spread, she said.

“Even though you’re exposed to it, it makes it significantly less likely that one will get sick,” Holbrook said. “If you’re not sick, they you’re one less person to spread it to other people.”

Holbrook said Southern California has seen an “uptick” in cases and state health officials recently reported a senior there died of complications from the flu.

Suzanne Wehausen, 67, of Sebastopol, has been getting a flu shot at Kaiser Permanente’s medical complex in Santa Rosa for years to protect herself and her husband.

“My husband has cancer and I’m his caregiver - I need to stay healthy,” she said. “I’ve never had the flu since I’ve been getting flu shots, so they seem to work.”

Holbrook said flu season doesn’t peak until January or February, following holiday season travel and family gatherings that bring people together from all over the country.

“There’s a lot of contributing factors to the spread of flu: cross-country travel, people gathering in close quarters and people not adhering to healthy habits, like staying home when they’re sick and covering their cough, but also not getting vaccinated,” Holbrook said.

Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses and prevent flu-related hospitalizations. Flu vaccines have been updated for the 2016-2017 season.

To date, more than 100 million doses of seasonal influenza vaccine have been distributed nationally.

Green said laboratory data a few weeks ago from the University of California, San Francisco showed a “small bump” in influenza A activity, but “then it went away.” Green said Kaiser has also seen some influenza A activity in Northern California, but not much.

Green said it’s not yet known if local cases of influenza A are the H3 subtype. Health officials won’t know until more flu cases are tested. But he said the Centers for Disease Control has already detected H3.

“For that reason it’s really important this year to get your flu shot, and it’s not too early,” Green said.

Lucianna Lehmann of Santa Rosa said she’s been getting flu shots every year for the past two decades.

“I worked with children for a long time,” said Lehmann. “I’ve had no problems all these years. If it can keep you from getting one bad flu, it’s worth it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.