MICHAEL KELLY The Marietta Times Becky Jones, a public health nurse at the Marietta Health Department, examines a package of flu vaccine. Despite reports in some parts of the country about a second wave of influenza infections, the flu season in Washington County has been average, authorities said.

Although a “second wave” of influenza has been reported in parts of the U.S. and Ohio, local health authorities in Washington County said Monday they have not seen any unusual upward spikes in reports of flu.

“I think we saw more overall cases this winter,” said Valerie Betkoski, director of nursing for the Washington County Health Department. “We track it from hospital admissions, and we don’t always get reports on people who are outpatients. There were six confirmed cases in April. We still generally see a few cases in April, but by the end of the month the season is usually pretty well over.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks flu cases using county-level reports of hospitalizations from around the country, reported a slight upsurge in Influenza B cases, but Influenza A cases still made up the predominant number of reports. Most locations, including Ohio, reported a late peak in cases. Week eight of the season – around the beginning of March – was the high for percentage of hospital admissions nationwide attributed to flu, 5 percent, the worst level of prevalence since 2012, when it hit 7.5 percent in week six.

The CDC’s criteria for reporting flu is “incidents of flu-like illness,” in which patients present with a fever of 100 degrees or greater and a cough and sore throat.

Ohio’s flu cases didn’t peak until the last week in March, with 1,200 reported that week.

According to the Ohio Health Department, the five-year baseline for flu case peak is the first week in January, with 800 cases, which indicates that statewide the flu this year was more widespread and significantly later than usual.

The Marietta Health Department is still offering flu shots, but nurse Vickie Kelly said they haven’t had anyone come in for a shot for at least two weeks. During the last week in April, the national rate of flu-related illness attributed to hospital admissions dropped to 2.1 percent.

Kelly said in her experience flu generally has two seasonal peaks, one just after Thanksgiving and another in late winter.

People who get ill at this time of the year can have difficulty distinguishing symptoms of flu from other seasonal ailments, such as allergies or spring colds. Kelly said the hallmarks of flu are a fever and serious body aches.

The flu vaccine this year is of two varieties, one that offers protection against three strains and another, the quadrivalent vaccine, intended to fend off four strains. Although the vaccines aren’t guaranteed to offer complete immunity, those who get flu shots and still get the virus generally find that their illnesses are shorter in duration and less severe.

If you do get the flu, Kelly said, stay home until it’s gone and don’t infect your friends, family or co-workers.

Measles has also been the subject of national discussion recently, particularly in relation to vaccines. With a total of 704 cases in the U.S. from Jan. 1 to April 26 of this year, measles has been reported in 22 states, and according to the CDC, is more widespread than at any time since 1994. In the first four months of 2019, the number of reported cases already is nearly double the entire year for 2018.

Epidemiologists have attributed the resurgence of the disease to infections brought from overseas by travelers who pass it on to unvaccinated people. No cases have been reported this year in Ohio or in West Virginia.

Measles at one time was an accepted childhood disease, but it can be serious, with one in four cases being severe enough for hospitalization, one in 1,000 leading to brain swelling and potentially brain damage, and one or two of 1,000 cases proving fatal.

Immunization against measles generally is delivered as a vaccine combined with protection against mumps and rubella, commonly know as MMR vaccine.

Ohio has a requirement for children attending public school to be inoculated, although medical conditions or “good cause” objections can be used to exempt children from the requirement. The “good cause” objections can include religious reasons.

Carol Thomson, a school nurse with Marietta City Schools, said Monday that 22 students in the MCS system currently are under immunization exemptions and another 62 are in “non-compliant” status, which means the schools are awaiting an updated exemption letter required annually, the student might have just moved to the district and the schools are awaiting paperwork or the student is in the process of being vaccinated but doesn’t have the full array of shots.

Stephanie Starcher, superintendent of Fort Frye Local Schools, said eight of the district’s students are exempted, less than 1 percent of the total student population. Other districts were contacted but did not reply on Monday.