01/30/2025
Helpful update from our fellow Cook colleague about all the nasty illnesses going around right now! 🤒
COMMUNITY UPDATE 1/27/25
1) THE FLU IS HERE and she is kicking everyone's butt. that's it. That's the update.
Ha. No really though, look at the chart. We haven't seen numbers like this since the '22-23 season. We had a huge surge in patients this morning needing appointments - and sooooo many were Flu positive. First symptoms are usually runny nose and a pretty high fever. These poor kids look really miserable - one told me his "hair hurts". Lots of headaches, sore throat, and muscle pains too. Xofluza and Tamiflu help to decrease the length of illness ONLY IF you give it fast, in the first 48 hours.
1b) JUST BECAUSE YOUR KID HAS A HIGH FEVER DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO PANIC. FEVERS DO NOT FRY BRAINS. If baby is under 6 months? yes, get seen soon. Under 3 months? Get seen now. But the flu LOVES to trigger a RAPID jump in fever, and I often see numbers from 103-106F. Yes, your child will feel miserable. But this is your kid's IMMUNE SYSTEM causing the fever - called an "interferon response" for my nerd friends (see below). The immune system saw the flu and was like, holy crap! this guy seems serious! I need to kill him ASAP! And raising the temp really high is the best way to do it. Keep your child comfortable, resting, drinking fluids, and watch his breathing. See your pediatrician in the morning.
1c) Our urgent cares are getting SLAMMED. They are setting records for number of patients seen each day. Please know that most kids are FINE to wait and see their pediatrician in the morning if they are, again, over 6 months, drinking enough to p*e, and not struggling in any way to breathe.
2) The vaccine is working, though I can't know how well until the season is over. We are seeing more positive tests in unvaccinated children. Some years the flu shot is a great match, some years not. I'm seeing more people decline the flu vaccine than ever before. This makes me pretty damned sad. The flu can be absolutely devastating for some kids, and the vaccine is all we have on our side to prevent the severe stuff. Sepsis, lung failure, pneumonias, rhabdo - I have seen a lot. I've vaccinated my kids yearly since they were 6 months old. Every doctor whose kid i care for also vaccinate their kids. Like i've said before...we've seen some scary sh*t with the flu. It's never too late to get it.
3) Gastroenteritis, or tummy bugs, are also going around. This are the barfing and diarrhea-ing illnesses. The most important thing is to keep your kid taking teeny weeny sips on gatorade or pedialyte (or whatever the heck they want to drink) - just enough to keep them from triggering the puking but to keep them hydrated enough to p*e every 6-8 hours and have some energy.
4) Croup - barking cough, loud breathing, hoarseness, fevers. I've written about it a bunch, use the search bar!
5) Many, many other viruses. Everything I've written about here has been viral - that means, germs with no cure. There are lots of viruses going around, mostly of the respiratory variety. Remember the snot and fever and sore throat start first, and then over a few days things involve to include the cough. The cough is our clean-up buddy. It drags the mucus up out of our lungs so we can swallow it down the other pipe and p**p it out. We love cough, within reason. Any kids over 6 months old who have an unchanging cough for more than 2-3 weeks, trouble breathing, wheezing, or fever more than 5 days should get seen by their pediatrician.
I'm tired. Today was a beating. Get your flu shots. Hugs, you guys.
😘 DA
Interferon response to flu: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4638190/
