Posted on Fri, Oct. 30, 2009
The cases of children with H1N1 influenza jumped significantly last week, but adults will soon feel more effects from the fast-spreading flu, health officials said this week.
"The disease in adults lags behind two weeks; next week we'll be seeing a large increase in the number of infections in adults," predicted Dr. Neil Fishman, director of health-care epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of Pennsylvania Health Care System. "Right now, most of the disease is in children."
Health Commissioner Donald Schwartz said the city was tracking H1N1 cases to prevent unnecessary infections and provide vaccines for those most vulnerable to the flu.
"Our key means of preventing infection is clearly vaccination," Schwartz said during a City Council hearing this week.
The city has about 635 confirmed H1N1 cases and another nine possible cases as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health Web site.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday estimated that 1.8 million to 5.7 million cases of swine flu occurred between April and July 23, sending between 9,000 and 20,000 people to the hospital.
And that might not be all the cases. Only children under 2, pregnant women, people with complicated health conditions and patients admitted to a hospital with flu symptoms are tested for H1N1, according to CDC guidelines, said Dr. Andrea McCoy, chief medical officer at Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase.
As the city struggles with an unexpectedly low number of available vaccines - about 500,000 doses were expected by the end of this month, but just more than 100,000 have been received, according to the city - health officials urged vaccination for at-risk groups: children; those who are pregnant, and adults with underlying health conditions. Hospital officials urged prudence when it comes to emergency-room visits.
"We're still encouraging patients to call their primary doctors," McCoy said. "Hospitals are not set up to do mass screenings [of H1N1]. Most patients do not need to be seen for this illness."
Richard Scarfone, medical director of emergency preparedness at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said that ER visits have increased there this month October.
"We urge the public to not panic," Scarfone said. "Pandemic does not speak to the severity of the virus. It simply means it has spread in a worldwide way."
And get ready for a third wave of the H1N1 flu later this winter or in the spring. "This is not the end of it," Fishman said.
Staff writer Catherine Lucey and Reuters contributed to this report.
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