Flu hits North Jersey
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Keep your hands out of the party mix.
The flu is spreading rapidly in North Jersey, and tossing that fistful of snacks into your mouth just might give you more than some pretzels and nuts — like one of the handful of influenza strains circulating among youngsters, college students and the elderly.
Influenza activity is at a high level, according to the state health department, a vast difference from last year, when the flu season never really ramped up and few residents were infected with the virus.
“We are escalating to a kind of activity level considered by New Jersey standards as high,” said Dr. Gary Munk, director of clinical virology at Hackensack University Medical Center. “It’s remarkable — we went from seeing no cases to these heightened levels early in the season.”
During the first week of December, New Jersey physicians said they were starting to see the first cases of influenza, but two weeks later the number of patients complaining of flu-like symptoms jumped significantly. Doctors attributed the rise to the refusal of many residents to get vaccinated.
“It’s a willful ignorance — they believe the vaccine will make them sick,” said Dr. Thomas Birch, president of the medical staff at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. “But if someone feels like they have a cold after getting the vaccine, it’s just a coincidence. The vaccine doesn’t cause illness.”
Despite the prevalence of the illness in several schools, Dr. Jeffrey Bienstock, director of pediatrics at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, said he’s seeing reluctance on the part of some parents to have their children vaccinated.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/184730821_Flu_hits_North_Jersey.html