Flu cases reported at two local hospitals


For weeks, infectious disease specialists wanted to be do their Paul Revere imitations: The flu is coming, the flu is coming. It has to be, they figured. It's supposed to flu season, after all.

Finally, it is.


On Monday, both the University of Rochester Medical Center and Rochester General Hospital reported laboratory-confirmed cases of the seasonal scourge.

URMC reported two cases and RGH one. They beat the groundhog by just a few days.


"It's a little bit later than we see in most years," said Dr. Alexandra Yamshchikov, hospital epidemiologist and infectious disease physician at RGH. "Usually we see the first cases by the holidays in December."

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Flu Season May be Underway in Monroe County


Rochester, N.Y.-- The flu season is off to a slow start this year.That's according to Dr. John Treanor, an infectious diseases doctor at Strong Memorial Hospital.

"It certainly is an unusual flu season because of the lack of activity so far," says Treanor.

Typically by January, there are a number of flu cases, but then again,Treanor says flu seasons can be unpredictable.

Gina Lang, owner of Pride and Joy Daycare in Henrietta, says she's noticed the relatively quiet flu season as well.

"It's definitely has been a lot slower," she says. "Typically we'll see a lot more flus and colds before Christmas."

In the meantime, Lang has been diligently teaching her students to wash their hands, cough in their elbows and hand sanitizer.

On Monday, Rochester General and Strong Memorial Hospital both said that they have confirmed cases of the flu. Not everyone with the flu goes to the doctor's office so there could be plenty of other unconfirmed cases.

"My expectation is that [in the next few weeks] we will see an increase in flu activity pick up," says Dr. Treanor.

Brandi Robinson says her 2-year-old daughter hasn't been sick all winter. She wonder if she has the weather to thank.

"It's been different from last year," Robinson says. "I've noticed but the weather hasn't been as cold and we've been able to get out in the fresh air."

Dr. Treanor says the weather may play a factor for the slow flu season.

"There are some interesting data that suggests particularly temperature and relative humidity do play a role in the transmission of the flu virus," he says. "You could guess the unusual warm weather has something to do with it."

If you haven't already, Dr. Treanor says it's not too late for people to get the flu vaccine.

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