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WEST SPRINGFIELD – The 2018-2019 influenza season arrived a few weeks earlier in the Pioneer Valley.
This is the diagnosis of Medical Assistant Louise Cardellina from the American Family Care Emergency Care Center here.
This week, the center at 18 Union Street reported three cases of influenza.
"We confirmed one case in the second, one in the third and one in the fifth," said Cardellina.
"Everyone was surprised.The first reaction was a little luck, the second, it is interesting and the third, fasten your seatbelt."
Of course, Cardellina was referring to last year 's season, considered serious in all age groups of the country, with at least 20,000 laboratory – confirmed cases in Massachusetts.
Influenza viruses circulate throughout the year, but control and disease prevention centers do not start following the cases of a new season before October 1st.
Is there a chance that the AFC cases are perpetrators of the 2017-2018 season that continued to spread in May in the Commonwealth?
Cardellina does not think so.
"I will test someone for the flu if they have symptoms just to be safe all year long, I have tested a few people this summer and they were all negative," Cardellina said.
Last year 's influenza vaccine was only about 25% effective against A (H3N2) viruses, which were the predominant strain. According to the CDC, H3N2 viruses change more frequently between annual vaccine composition and delivery.
Mr Cardellina said the weak combination of vaccines last year highlights what is happening in terms of transmission when immunity is low.
"This shows how widespread the flu becomes when the vaccine is not perfect," Cardellina said.
"When the match is good, the vaccine is very effective and proves that it works".
She added that flu is the biggest threat in terms of severity for young people, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems and some chronic diseases. She said that healthy people are less at risk but can expose others by being infected for two days without symptoms.
"It's important to break the chain in terms of spread," Cardellina said.
"My advice is to get vaccinated against the flu, I get mine."
The CDC recommends that all children six months of age and older be vaccinated each season.
This year's vaccines have been modified with an updated A (H3N2) virus as well as a B virus change.
Different flu vaccines are approved for different age groups. Influenza vaccines cause the formation of antibodies in the body that protect against infection by the viruses in the vaccine.
The CDC reported that influenza syndromes were at or above the national baseline for 19 weeks, making the 2017-2018 season one of the longest in recent years.
The percentage of deaths attributable to pneumonia and influenza was greater than or equal to the epidemic threshold for 16 consecutive weeks in the country.
As of August 25, a total of 180 pediatric deaths have been reported to the CDC during the 2017-2018 season. This number exceeds the highest number of influenza-associated deaths among children reported during a regular influenza season.
According to the CDC, about 80% of these deaths occurred in children who had not been vaccinated against influenza for the 2017-2018 season.
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