Bay Area hospitals work overtime with surge in stronger strain of flu

Late last week, Nikki Camarena began to feel inklings of discomfort that, by Monday, had become the full-blown flu, with a 104-degree fever, wheezing, congestion, coughing and body aches.

A doctor confirmed the diagnosis on Thursday and sent Camarena to a pharmacy to pick up cough medicine, an inhaler and painkillers.

“I’ve gotten the flu before, but not like this,” said Camarena, a pediatric receptionist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. “This time was way different. It was stronger.”

Health care workers have not been immune to the severe flu season, which so far has claimed the lives of 42 people under the age of 65 in the state. They include five deaths in Santa Clara County, six in Contra Costa County and one in Marin County. California tracks flurelated deaths only of people under 65, which state health officials say is a better measure for the severity of a flu season.

Across the Bay Area, hospitals and medical clinics are calling on additional physicians, nurses and medical staff to work extra shifts — some to take the place of workers who have fallen ill themselves — postponing the addition of elective surgeries to make room for flu patients, and imposing temporary restrictions on visitors to help prevent the spread of influenza to patients already in the hospital.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center last week began restricting children under the age of 14 from visiting to minimize the spread of the flu. Health officials deem younger people more at risk to contract and pass on infectious diseases because they spend significant time in close contact with peers at school. The hospital is also requiring visitors to the intensive care unit to undergo screening for flu-like symptoms, and asking patients in the emergency department waiting room to wear gloves and masks.

“All the hospitals are seeing an increase in flu,” said Joy Alexiou, spokeswoman for the County of Santa Clara Health System, which includes Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

The medical center in San Jose saw the number of patients diagnosed with influenza skyrocket from four per week in mid-December to 40 during the first week of January. Last week, that number jumped to 56.

Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City had 75 patients with the flu in December. In January so far, there are already 73 cases — one of the highest numbers since 2009, said Cheryl Flesner, the hospital’s manager of infection prevention.

At John Muir Health’s hospitals in Concord and Walnut Creek, administrators have postponed adding new elective surgeries to the schedule for the last 10 days to ensure enough beds remain free for flu patients who need to be hospitalized. They also extended hours in the Walnut Creek urgent care center, its busiest location, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. through January.

The surge in flu cases is prompting emergency transport teams in several regions to work harder and longer. In Santa Clara County, ambulance transports to the county’s 10 hospitals, which typically average 220 a day, rose to 240 in December, then to 264 in Janu-

ary.

“It’s not all flu, but it gives us an indication there’s more going on out there, that means typically more sick people out there,” Alexiou said.

In Contra Costa County, ambulance providers have been adding ambulance hours to serve the higher volume of patients heading to emergency departments, said Patricia Frost, the county’s Emergency Medical Services director.

“We’re seeing staffing at maximum levels,” Frost said.

About 70 percent of flu cases this season are the result of a strain of influenza A known as H3N2, said Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, medical director of infectious disease at Sutter Health.

The flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing this strain, which tends to be more severe because it can cause more mucus production, which can trigger secondary bacterial infections.

There are some indications, though, that the uptick in flu cases may have plateaued after peaking in early January, said some health officials who will be watching trend lines this week and next closely.

The number of patients getting tested for influenza per day at Sutter Health-owned Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, for instance, has been steadily declining since Jan. 1, according to data from the hospital. On Jan. 1, more than 30 patients were tested for influenza; by the start of this week, that number had fallen to half that.

“It’s calmed down a little this week, it’s better than it was,” Silvers said. “It looks like this particular strain of the influenza epidemic has peaked.”