Maryland, nation suffer in harsh flu season

Outbreak has overcrowded emergency rooms, with 17,000 visits across state

The flu has hit Maryland and the rest of the nation particularly hard this year, and health officials and hospitals are advising people to stay home and call their doctor rather than go to an emergency room crowded by others with symptoms of the highly contagious virus.

The latest figures from the state Department of Health show nearly 17,000 people with flu-like illnesses have made emergency room visits in Maryland since October, and for the past month hospitals across the region have been reporting high loads of flu cases on top of typical winter maladies such as pneumonia and heart attacks.

Health and emergency officials say most people can recover at home after a week or so of fever, aches and lethargy with lots of fluids and pain relievers such as Tylenol or Motrin, and only those who are very old or young, have underlying health conditions that put them at high risk, or have serious symptoms such as breathing problems or dehydration should seek emergency care.

“Most if not all hospitals in the region are seeing a lot of patients and lot of overcrowding, so the main thing people can do is rely on their primary care doctor,” said Dr. Jonathan Hansen, chair of the emergency department at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Rosedale.

“If you feel like you have the flu, start talking to your doctor first, and the doctor can give you ideas about how to best manage it,” he said. “It will probably involve lots of fluids and staying away from others so they don’t get sick . ... Though, there are situations where more care may be needed.”

Dr. Richard L. Alcorta, state EMS medical director for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, which oversees the ambulance system, said the 911 system is available for anyone who needs it. But he and state health officials put out a warning that the system is busy and to leave emergency services for those with true emergencies.

Hospitals also are seeking to reduce traffic through their facilities. Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Carroll Hospital Center, most institutions in the University of Maryland Medical System and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, for example, have instituted visitor restrictions including reduced hours and limits on children on the campuses. Many hospitals have placed masks, hand sanitizers and informational posters at entrances.

Officials believe the influenza vaccine is not a good match this year to one of the circulating strains, H3N2. The flu virus is widespread across the nation, with 37 deaths reported among children so far this season including seven in the week ending Jan. 20, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None have been in Maryland. Adult deaths are not tracked nationally and even a tally of official cases of the flu are spotty because most people are not tested.

In Maryland, a voluntary reporting system among 25 doctors’ offices in the state shows there were 2,200 visits for influenzalike illnesses this season through Jan. 20. Emergency rooms reported 16,949 visits for flu-like symptoms. One adult patient being treated for the flu died last week at Frederick Memorial Hospital, where cases of respiratory illness are high, the hospital confirmed.

There are likely hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations annually due to the flu and tens of thousands of deaths, including those in previously healthy people, said Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention for the Johns Hopkins Health System. She said the flu season began in earnest a few weeks earlier in December and quickly spread across the country.

“People don’t realize how many people get the flu every year and how many people die,” she said. “It’s always a serious problem that we try and combat by getting people vaccinated and using very standard infection prevention strategies like washing hands and staying home when sick.”

Hopkins’ Maragakis say it’s likely to be another few weeks before cases begin to decline.

“So it’s not too late to get a flu shot,” she said. “Even with reports of lower effectiveness, it does provide protection.”