(Express Times) First the bad news: Widespread influenza activity overspreading the nation is taking its toll in the Lehigh Valley and northwest New Jersey.
The good news is this year’s flu vaccine is effective against the strain going around, according to a medical expert at St. Luke’s University Health Network.
Cases piled up enough atLehigh Valley Hospital to prompt the opening announced Monday of a second, temporary emergency department at itsSalisbury Township campus.
The “mobile surge tent” set up outside the existing emergency department will begin accepting patients experiencing flu-like symptoms Tuesday, a Lehigh Valley Health Network news release said Monday. Patients with flu-like symptoms should still report to the main emergency entrance for treatment, according to the release.
Setting up the ancillary department is a proactive measure aimed at ensuring the best level of care and protection for patients.
It’s too early to tell how long the tent will remain open until more patients are seen, said health network spokesman Matthew Burns. The hospital needs to get a better understanding of patients’ conditions, he said.
“It could grow or it could only be there for a week,” Burns said.
18 deaths reported in U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that for the week ending Dec. 29, widespread influenza activity was reported by 41 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Nationwide, the CDC reports 18 pediatric deaths from Sept. 30 through Dec. 29. Its Region 2, which includes New Jersey, has seen three of those; none were reported in Region 3, encompassing Pennsylvania.
The 2011-12 flu season saw 34 reported pediatric deaths, down from 122 in 2010-11. In 2009-10, when a strain of swine flu broke out, the United States saw 282 reported pediatric deaths.
Dr. Jeff Jahre, senior vice president of medical and academic affairs at St. Luke’s University Health Network, said a new influenza strain could account for this year’s hike in flu cases, and those seeking treatment for colds so bad they fear the flu.
“This year is worse” than the past two winters, he said.
Flu season usually starts in January or later, he said, but St. Luke’s has been treating individuals since early to mid-December. This year’s vaccine “is effective with the strain that we know is predominantly circulating,” he said.
It’s not too late to get a flu shot, Jahre said. Some people still get sick after the vaccine, but it prevents them from getting as sick as they would without it, he said.
“Prevention is still always better than treatment,” Jahre said. “The vaccine should always be taken advantage of.”
Calm before storm
Robert Church, emergency room director at Hunterdon Medical Center, said patient volume is up by 10 percent. About two weeks ago, he received a memo from the New Jersey Department of Health stating Hunterdon County had the state’s lowest rates for the flu.
The next day there were six positive flu cases, he said, and it hasn’t stopped since. The hospital has been getting five to 15 cases of flu per day, he said.
Hunterdon Medical Center’s emergency room has been “backed up” because most patients are experiencing vomiting and diarrhea along with the flu, which is a respiratory illness, Church said.
“We normally treat and release, but the ones that we are seeing are requiring IV fluids to get rehydrated,” he said.
At Lehigh Valley Hospital, where the temporary tent resembles something straight out of “E.T.,” Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention, said, “We’ve been seeing hundreds of patients in a day.”
Besides the flu, patients are coming in with vomiting and diarrhea.
“We just happened to be in a bad year,” Burger said. “We had seen an uptick in the first week in December and it has progressively gotten worse.”
Error: Contact form not found.