Health Department: Alabama's flu activity unusually high, severe in children

“This is the highest flu activity that we have seen this early in the season since the 2009 Influenza A/H1N1 pandemic,” reported Dr. Wes Stubblefield, pediatrician and district medical officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

“Outpatient visits for influenza increased over 10-fold between September and October, and have shown no signs of slowing in the first five days of November,” said Dr. Nola Ernest, outpatient pediatrician in Enterprise and president of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “The highest number of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness are in young people, ages 5-24.”

While typically self-limited, influenza can result in severe complications in persons of any age, but is especially severe in young children. Hospitalization can result from dehydration and difficulty breathing, but also from myocarditis , respiratory failure, and encephalitis .

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