By Dorsey Griffith, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Dec. 4--Bracing for an ever-broadening onslaught of influenza, area hospitals and medical clinics are taking extraordinary measures to prevent the spread of the disease this season.
Patients who are sneezing or coughing at Kaiser Permanente clinics throughout the region, for example, are being asked to don surgical masks and to wash their hands before being seen by a doctor.
One infectious disease expert said the flu is hitting children hard now, pointing to a likely outbreak among adults by Christmas.
The precautions come in response to a warning issued by state health officials late last week alerting hospitals to early flu outbreaks and the need for additional controls to prevent an epidemic.
'This is the first time this has ever happened for routine diseases like influenza or the cold,' said Dr. David Herbert, an infectious disease specialist for Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento and Roseville.
'Especially with the difficulty distinguishing flu from pneumonia and SARS, it makes sense to take a more vigorous approach to preventing transmission of all respiratory infections,' he said.
Kaiser Permanente also is extending many of its flu vaccination clinics an additional week, going to lengths to vaccinate its workers, and bolstering supplies of drugs that combat early flu symptoms.
Other area health systems are gearing up, as well: Mercy patients are being offered masks, tissues and waterless hand-washing gels; Sacramento's Sutter hospitals also are asking emergency department staff to wear masks when caring for patients with respiratory symptoms; and the UC Davis Medical Center is providing tissues to patients for use in covering their coughs.
'That is the way we should live from now on,' said Dr. Jon Rosenberg, the state epidemiologist and an author of the influenza warning. 'We've got a double whammy -- first we had SARS, and now we have a really bad flu year. Hopefully, this will have a lasting effect.'
This year's influenza apparently packs a wallop. In Colorado, health officials Wednesday reported 6,306 confirmed cases of influenza, including five deaths, all children. Most recently, a 2-year-old and 4-year-old died of complications from the flu.
In California, the flu is hitting the Central Valley -- including Sacramento and Fresno -- especially hard, particularly children. Because flu is not a reportable disease, the state does not maintain precise statistics, but its monitoring system has detected a significant increase in reports of flu this year.
A spot check of schools throughout the region found varying degrees of flulike illnesses. Many schools report far more absences than are typical for this time of year.
'They are just dropping like flies,' said Debbi Herr, nurse for the Black Oak Mine Unified School District in El Dorado County. Herr said she spent much of the day Wednesday sending ill students home from Georgetown Elementary School. On Monday, Herr reported, 80 students -- 18 percent of the student body -- were out sick.
Sheryl Murphy, attendance secretary at Parker Whitney Elementary School in Rocklin, offered a similar story.
'Yesterday I had 31 messages on the attendance line, and most of them were kids who were sick,' she said. 'That's a lot for one day.'
In Roseville, Sargeant Elementary School attendance secretary Ann Wilmouth added that the illnesses have swept in early, and hard. 'It usually doesn't hit until February or March,' she said.
Headaches, stomachaches, nausea and sore throats have been common complaints at California Middle School in the Sacramento City Unified School District, where about 10 percent of the student population has been absent each day since the end of September, said Toby Frank, a school nurse.
Kaiser's Herbert said it's just a matter of time before sick kids infect their parents.
'We know based on experience it will quickly go to the parents and their co-workers and the adult population around Christmastime,' he said.
Rosenberg, the state epidemiologist, concurred. Citing the overcrowding crisis during the state's flu epidemic in 1997-1998, he urged hospital administrators and emergency personnel to beef up staffing during the holiday season and to review vacation requests so they are not caught ill prepared.
'If hospitals don't prepare for that ahead of time and don't adequately vaccinate their staff, it's going to further increase the stress on the health care system,' he said.
Vaccination is especially important, he said. This year's vaccine may not offer complete protection against this year's most common strain of the virus, but will most likely prevent severe illness, Rosenberg said.
At Kaiser, a roving nurse takes influenza vaccine from unit to unit offering shots to any staff member yet to be vaccinated, Herbert said.
In addition, Kaiser has embraced the state's recommendations for preventing transmission of respiratory illnesses.
'We will strongly encourage anyone who is coughing to wear a mask,' said Herbert. 'It isn't fair to other patients or staff if they don't. And once they are in the exam room, we ask that they wash their hands.'
The precautions also will aid against spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, should the newly discovered disease reappear in the United States this year, he said.
The Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services also is taking additional steps to better prepare for potential SARS cases. In letters to doctors sent Tuesday, Dr. Glennah Trochet, the county health officer, announced that public health nurses will be calling intensive care units throughout the county to find out if any patients are being treated for pneumonia with an unknown source.
Kaiser members seeking more vaccination clinic information can go to www.members.kp.org. County residents seeking locations of clinics providing flu vaccinations can call (916) 875-7053.
Bee staff writers Bill Lindelof, Laurel Rosen, Pamela Martineau, Kim Minugh, Sandy Louey and Walter Yost contributed to this report.
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(c) 2003, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
