Prepare for flu, but hold off on panic

Please prepare for the flu but don't panic — and don't rush to the doctor or emergency room.

That's the message state and local health officials shared Tuesday as they tried to prep Utahns for the expected rise of both H1N1 and seasonal flu in the weeks ahead. All types of flu cases are increasing after a summer lull, particularly in northern Utah, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy with the Utah Department of Health.

Officials are urging that people be vaccinated against the seasonal flu, as well as H1N1 when the vaccine becomes available, likely beginning next month.

Ten people have been hospitalized statewide since the new flu reporting year began Sept. 1, she said, and updated flu numbers will be released by the health department Wednesday. In the prior reporting year, about 300 Utahns were hospitalized after the H1N1 outbreak that began last spring.

Dr. Robert Rolfs, state epidemiologist, said during any pandemic, officials can anticipate that between 20 and 30 percent of the population may become ill, though there is no way to predict what the H1N1 virus will do. He said it's possible that two to four times as many people may be hospitalized with the flu in the months ahead as were last spring in the Beehive State.

Those widely publicized H1N1 cases closed schools and nearly overloaded the state's health-care system last year. Hoping to avoid the same problems this year, officials are urging people to take simple precautions to avoid contracting or spreading the flu, without feeling the need to head straight to the doctor's office if their symptoms are mild.

Dr. Brent Wallace of Intermountain Healthcare said most children and adults who contract the flu will recover without needing to visit a doctor or hospital. Anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza simply shorten the duration and/or severity of symptoms, he said. They don't "cure" or "prevent" the flu, but they may prevent serious complications if taken within one to two days after symptoms begin.

Those drugs flew off pharmacy shelves last spring, making them less available for people whose defenses were already compromised. Though the state now has a stockpile of the drugs available if needed, as requested by local health departments, guidelines distributed to reporters Tuesday say the drugs "may be given first to persons with severe illness or those at higher risk for flu complications."

Unless symptoms are unusual or severe, Wallace urged normally healthy residents to either ride out the disease or to call their doctor and ask whether they need to be seen in the office.