If this year is like last year, the next week or two of Kane County’s Influenza Surveillance Report should be interesting to watch.

Will the numbers of flu cases spike or start to decline?

In Week 52 of 2014, which extended from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27, the percentage of emergency room visits stayed high but dropped a bit from the previous week. About 7.47 percent of participating hospital emergency room visits was for Influenza-Like-Illness in Week 52 compared to 9.37 percent in Week 51.

Also this week, a fifth long-term care or assisted-living facility reported a flu outbreak. Four such facilities reported outbreaks in Week 51.

Last year, the big numbers of flu-like illnesses were reported in January. But that’s not always the case. In the 2009-10 reporting year, the big flu outbreak was in Week 42, when a whopping 17 percent of ER cases were for flu-like illnesses. In 2011-12, the highest rate was about 8 percent in Week 52.

This year’s percentages are the highest since 2009-10. Kane County monitors flu activity during the months of October through April, by collecting data from hospital emergency rooms, laboratories and public schools.

During Week 52, labs reported that 324 of 1,217 (26.87 percent) specimens tested for influenza were positive. Of the 324 positive specimens tested, 306 (93.6 percent) were positive for influenza A, 19 (5.8 percent) were positive for influenza B and 2 (0.6 percent) were positive for A and B.

The thing is, schools were not in session on Wednesday of week 51 due to winter break, so no school ILI absenteeism data was collected for this reporting week.

As of week ending Dec. 27, a total of 25 cases of Influenza-related ICU admissions were reported to the Health Department. That compares to a total of 16 influenza-related ICU admissions during the entire influenza season of 2013-14. Last year, just one influenza outbreak was reported in a long-term care /assisted-living facility.

The mean age for all cases reported thus far in 2014-15 is 67 years. The age range of cases is 28 to 95 years. No Influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported.

SOURCE: Kane County Health Department Influenza Surveillance Report