Nov 5, 2009 9:36 pm US/Eastern
Health Experts: Another Wave Of H1N1 Flu Possible
PITTSBURGH (CBS) ―
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Nearly 500 children and their parents lined up at Edgeworth Elementary School in Sewickley for the H1N1 vaccine.
KDKA
Is the worst of the H1N1 flu behind us?
While local health officials say the number of confirmed cases has been declining, it doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet, CBS station KDKA-TV reports.
"If you look at what's happened over the past couple of weeks, about 17 percent of people visiting emergency rooms were there because of symptoms of influenza-like illness," Dr. Bruce Dixon, head of the Allegheny County Health Department, said. "Starting basically over this weekend and continuing through this weekend, it looks like that number is down to 9 percent."
But that doesn't mean we've seen the last of H1N1.
"Although we have seen the peak of H1N1 activity, we will continue to see influenza-like illness caused by H1N1 and maybe some other viruses for weeks," Dr. Richard Saladino, from Children's Hospital, said. "And we're only beginning the winter."
Health experts are urging people to continue to cover their mouths, wash their hands, use hand sanitizer and consider getting vaccinated if it's available.
"If history teaches us something, when we see numbers like this that is in a pandemic, there's often a third wave of activity so there's no guarantees that we're done with H1N1 this year," Saladino said.
Allegheny County has not yet seen a confirmed case of the seasonal flu.
"We usually see seasonal flu peaking sometime in January-February, it may start as early as early November, but that's an exception," Dixon said.
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