About 9.5% Of Kane Hospital Emergency Room Visits For Flu
Flu in Illinois is officially “widespread,” according to a report from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Locally, the Kane County Health Department’s influenza survey shows that flu continues to rise week over week in terms of the number of visits to local emergency rooms and the numbers of kids missing school.
The county’s influenza survey includes the collection of data from hospital emergency rooms, laboratories and public schools. Participants have reported the following aggregate measures:
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About 9.52 percent of participating hospital emergency room visits was for Influenza-Like-Illness (ILI). This rate has continued to increase from the previous week.
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During Week 49, labs reported that 500 of 1,369 (36.58 percent) specimens tested for influenza were positive. Of the 500 positive specimens tested, 471 (94.2 percent) were positive for influenza A, 24 (4.8 percent) were positive for influenza B and 5 (1.0 percent) were positive for A and B. No other specimen tested positive for week ending Dec. 6, 2014.
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ILI absenteeism rate for schools in Kane County increased to an average of 0.33 percent. No public school in the county had ILI absenteeism rate above the 5 percent threshold. No school was closed.
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As of week ending Dec. 6, seven cases of Influenza related ICU admissions and no pediatric deaths were reported to the health department. Five cases were reported for this reporting week. The mean age for all cases reported thus far is 63 years. The age range of cases is 28 to 88 years. No Influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported.
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To date, no outbreaks of Influenza have been reported from Long Term Care/Assisted Living facilities.
