SPOKANE, Wash. — Doctors around Spokane County are researching cases to determine the cause of an early start to the area’s flu season.
There have been 29 hospitalizations in the region since early November, according to the Spokane Regional Health District.
In previous years, the region’s flu season began, on average, around mid-December, according to Mark Springer, an epidemiologist at the Spokane Regional Health District.
But Springer tracked the start of the 2019 season about a month prior.
“We’re starting to see an earlier flu season. We don’t really know why that’s the case,” he said.
Doctors are also working to determine why there have been more reports of flu cases involving the Influenza B strain.
“This flu strain is unusually common so early in the season,” Springer said. “This could just be something where we see some successive waves of flu.”
Springer said in the average flu season, about 80 percent of cases are of Influenza A.
The “A” strain is most dangerous for people in older age groups and for infants.
But over the span of the first month of the 2019-2020 flu season, Springer said 67 percent of the cases have been of Influenza B.
“We’re way above what’s normal, so when it’s this abnormal it’s really hard to predict,” he said.
The “B” strain can be just as harmful as strain “A”, but Springer said Influenza B usually is not connected with widespread outbreaks.
The SRHD reported Spokane’s typical peak point of the flu season is in January. So Springer said it’s still not too late to get your flu vaccine.