Flu cases are hitting a 15-year record, highest since the swine flu wave of 2009, and the CDC is showing Ohio is a hotspot.
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News Center 7′s Amber Jenkins spoke with a doctor and a drug store manager for insight into why the number of cases is so high and how to treat the illness.
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“I think what’s surprising is how rapidly this occurred this year,” Chief Medical Officer with Premier Health Roberto Colon MD said. “Especially after so many years of having low numbers in flu. I think that’s why it feels so troublesome right now.”
The most common flu strain in the Miami Valley right now is influenza-a, Colon says. He also recommends trying over-the-counter medication before going to the hospital, if you have no underlying conditions.
“The vast majority of patients are able to be treated at home and use over the counter medicine to suppress the fever and relieve some discomfort,” Colon said.
A local drug store manager says he has noticed more people coming in looking for that medicine.
“Our sales have gone up a couple of percentages for cough, cold, flu items we have here every day for our customers,” Ryan Adams with Discount Drug Mart said.
Discount Drug Mart has five Miami Valley locations. Adams says they are ordering more over-the-counter cold and flu medicine to combat the uptick in demand.
“We certainly do our part to make sure we don’t run out for the customer,” Adams said. “We recognize this time of the year and how busy it is for that purpose. We want to keep our shelves as stocked as possible.”
Adams also said he’s telling employees to stay home if they aren’t feeling well.
“Our employees certainly come down with some things, I mean it’s retail,” Adams said. Any line of work, you’re going to have that , especially this time of year.”
Around 1400 people have been hospitalized for the flu in the past week which is up 90 percent from last week, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The flu hospitalizations count is also considerably higher than the 5-year average, which is around 500 hospitalizations, according to ODH.
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