Suffolk News-Herald

Early outbreaks of influenza, along with what experts predict will be an especially miserable flu season, have increased demand for the vaccine across Virginia, state health officials said.

So far, the Suffolk Health Department has already vaccinated 2,500 people – and it’s still early in the process, said Nancy Cisco, the department’s nursing supervisor. Last year, only 2,300 people got flu shots from the health department.

&uot;We are very busy this year. We did 75 (people) today,&uot; said Cisco. &uot;A lot of people who don’t ordinarily get flu immunizations are getting them this year.&uot;

The media’s focus on influenza probably prompted more people to get their flu shots this year, she said. The clinic is also seeing more patients because so many local doctors’ offices have already run out of the vaccine and aren’t ordering more.

&uot;We’ve reordered twice and will have to reorder again,&uot; Cisco said. &uot;What I’m hearing is that a lot of local physicians are out and don’t have plans to reorder.&uot;

The health department will reorder as often as the vaccine is available and the need exists, she added.

It’s impossible to determine how many state residents now have the flu. But the Virginia Department of Health said it received reports of nearly 600 people who had contracted the virus by the first week of November, six weeks earlier than the flu season typically starts.

Reports indicate outbreaks in central and northern Virginia, with signs of increasing flu activity in the eastern and southwestern parts of the states. But the state is not yet dealing with widespread outbreaks.

&uot;To my knowledge, Suffolk hasn’t had an abundance of influenza reported yet this year,&uot; said Cisco.

Patient First’s six medical centers in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have seen a 50 percent increase in the number of people coming in for flu shots in October and November compared to the same period a year ago.

In Loudoun County, the health department has set up a special flu clinic to vaccinate people who haven’t managed to get inoculated at their doctors’ offices. And the Rappahannock Area Health District was scrambling to find extra vaccinations before its Friday flu clinics in Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.

Normally, interest in flu vaccinations fade about this time, said Sylvia Newport, the district’s immunization coordinator. But this season, &uot;it seems like it’s still constant.&uot;

Newport said news of flu activity has sparked concern among residents.

An influx of patients with flu-like symptoms at Fredericksburg’s Mary Washington Hospital filled the hospital Tuesday, forcing it to set up additional treatment areas.

At Caroline County’s Bowling Green Elementary School, absenteeism has tripled over the last week as apparent flu cases came in earlier and more severely, said Lorraine Crabtree, a school registered nurse.

&uot;It’s been rough,&uot; Crabtree said. &uot;I’ve been handing out tissues like crazy.&uot;

It’s impossible to determine how many state residents now have the flu. But the Virginia Department of Health said it received reports of nearly 600 people who had contracted the virus by the first week of November, six weeks earlier than the flu season typically starts.

Reports indicate outbreaks in central and northern Virginia, with signs of increasing flu activity in the eastern and southwestern parts of the states. But the state is not yet dealing with widespread outbreaks.

&uot;We always expect flu to come every year, but … we expect this to be a big flu year,&uot; said Diane Woolard, the health department’s head of surveillance and investigation.

This flu season, Beth Hardesty, an epidemiologist in the Prince William County Health District, became a statistic herself.

&uot;I got sick on a Saturday and had a fever of 101 by that afternoon,&uot; she said. &uot;And that was with the shot.&uot;

Others who have received the vaccine might experience the same thing this year.

Researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization monitor the various versions of the virus as those strains crop up around the globe.

By February, the CDC makes a recommendation to the Food and Drug Administration on which three strains to include in the vaccine that is distributed in the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.