This year's influenza season is just beginning. And experts from Southern California are already beginning to worry.

Last year was the worst flu season in more than a decade. Last year, in California, 164 influenza – related deaths were recorded, compared with 81 deaths the year before.

The situation has become so dire that some hospitals in southern California have opened influenza tents in their car parks to serve the large number of patients.

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Last year, the dominant strain was the influenza A H3N2, which was not new. But it is often associated with serious illness in young children and 65 years and older.

This year, things have been calm on the flu front nationally and internationally, said Dr. Matt Zahn, medical director of epidemiology at the Orange County Health Care Agency.

"It makes it hard to predict what kind of year this is going to be," he said. "Last year, Australia and the Southern Hemisphere experienced an early flu season, which gave clues as to what we could expect. But this year, there is no activity of this type.

Last year's influenza season was severe and affected people of all ages, Zahn said.

The best precaution people can take this year is to get a flu shot, he said.

immunizations

The Centers for Disease Control recommend that people be vaccinated by the end of October, Zahn said.

"There is nothing like getting vaccinated too early," he said. "If you have not received the vaccine, now is the time to get it. We are all caught in the expectation of the next pandemic. "

He added that it's just not possible to get the flu from the flu shot.

"The influenza vaccine is an inactivated vaccine, which means it contains pieces of the virus, not an intact virus," Zahn said. "You may have arm pain after a flu shot or mild symptoms. But the shot itself can not give you the flu.

In the United States, the flu season usually occurs between October and May. The flu virus has the ability to evolve.

But there is usually enough similarity in the virus from one year to the next so that the vaccine can immunize people at least partially.

The most common signs of the flu include sudden fever, chills, muscle aches, headache, fever, cough, sore throat, dehydration, vomiting and abdominal pain. The virus is transmitted by being close to someone who is sick and coughs or sneezes.

People can be infected by touching surfaces that an infected person has touched or sneezing or coughing.

Vaccines can be obtained from employers, if they provide them, at county dispensaries and pharmacies. Wholesalers such as Costco and Sam's Club also offer relatively cheaper influenza vaccines.

Locate vaccination services near you at vaccinefinder.org.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency

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