National Influenza Vaccination Week, a campaign established in 2005 to counter the notion that Decem

Houston-area hospitals have seen a spike in the number of emergency room visits for flu-like symptoms, said Porfirio Villarreal , spokesman for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services . During the week of Nov. 18, about 1,580 visits to emergency rooms were attributed to flu-like illnesses, compared with just 249 visits during the same week last year, Villarreal said.
Every flu season is different, and even healthy people can get very sick from the disease and spread it to others. From 1976 to 2007, estimates of U.S. deaths each year due to flu ranged from 3,000 to 49,000.
"Flu is predictably unpredictable," said Dr. Gail Demmler-Harrison , pediatric green bay packers playoff tickets infectious diseases specialist at Texas Children's Hospital and pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine . "There's no cause for alarm but cause for action. People should get themselves vaccinated so it doesn't get any worse."
National Influenza green bay packers playoff tickets Vaccination green bay packers playoff tickets Week, a campaign established in 2005 to counter the notion that December is too late to get a vaccination, ends Saturday. Once a vaccine is administered, it takes about two weeks to develop immunity.
Although the influenza season usually peaks in February, 48 states and Puerto Rico have reported cases, with rates rising quickly nationwide, the federal Centers for Disease green bay packers playoff tickets Control and Prevention said this week.
In Houston, Texas Children's Hospital has seen an early start to the season with 123 confirmed cases of Type A influenza and 32 cases of Type B, compared with just two Type A cases in the same span last year, Demmler-Harrison said.