Arizona, rise in flu cases signals hard year ahead - Health In US

ND: Arizona, rise in flu cases signals hard year ahead
PHOENIX -- A huge spike in the number of flu cases could portend a particularly bad year for the flu in Arizona.Health In US

New figures from the Arizona Department of Health Services shows there already have been 1,143 cases so far this season. That’s compared to 157 at the same time last year.

And that 2016 figure was not an aberration. The average to date is just 142.

What makes this number so potentially alarming is the timing: The number of new cases reported each week does not normally peak until February

But Jessica Rigler, the agency's bureau chief for public health preparedness, said she's not prepared to say at this point that the pattern being set -- 385 new cases this past week alone versus 43 the same week last year -- will lead to some new record in the number of people who get infected.

"Flu is really difficult to predict,'' she told Capitol Media Services. "It behaves differently every single time.'' Arizona, rise in flu cases signals hard year ahead

Rigler said it may just be that people are getting the flu earlier in the season than normal. And that would mean the peak will be sometime before February.

"Or it's possible we'll have more cases overall this year,'' she continued. "It's just a little too soon to tell.''
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