Friday, January 11, 2013
The McHenry County Health Department is encouraging everyone older than six months to get a flu shot.
Does it seem like everyone around you is sick these days? Or perhaps you have been under the weather for weeks. Well, you are not alone. The flu has hit McHenry County, and the nation, hard while most cases seem to be spiking much earlier than usual this year. In the first week of January alone, 53 cases of the flu were reported in the county and since the end of December, there have been nine patients who required treatment in the intensive care unit of area hospitals, according to MCDH. In December, 102 cases were reported throughout the entire month of December and 21 cases in November, according to a McHenry County Health Department press release. Several Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch Facebook users reported catching the flu in …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Season off to strong start compared to last year, Lake County Health Department officials said.
Lake County health officials are finding the number of seasonal flu cases being reported this year is substantially higher than this time last year, prompting officials to remind people to get a flu vaccine. The health department’s weekly surveillance of the flu showed there was slight increase in the number of flu cases the department’s clinics reported. During the week of Dec. 2-8, 112 illnesses were reported and that number increased to 114 the following week, said Matt Knight, a nurse with the LCHD. Lake County also monitors flu tests from area hospitals, which reported 20 positive tests during the week of Dec. 2-8, Knight said. Last week, the number went up to 38, he said. There have been a total of 43 positive flu tests since the …
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Kane County Health Department offers advice for staying healthy.
Now that school is in full swing, the flu season is just around the corner. You can help protect your family by following a few simple steps. If/when your child becomes ill with a fever of more than 100 degrees and has a cough and/or sore throat, he or she has what is called an “influenza-like illness,” or ILI. When you call to report that your child will be staying home, it is important that you tell the school nurse this information. The nurse will be passing that information along to the Health Department. For the purposes of this report, personal information will not be sent to the Health Department. This, along with information gathered from hospital emergency rooms and local testing laboratories, provides a true picture of flu …
Saturday, November 13, 2010
McHenry County health department starts taking walk-ins for flu shot.
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Saturday, November 13, 2010
It's still not too late to get that flu shot, McHenry County health officials said. Beginning Monday, the health department will offer walk-in flu vaccinations at its Woodstock office, 2200 N. Seminary Ave., and its Crystal Lake offices, 100 N Virginia St. Hours are from 8:30am-4pm. The cost is $30. Medicaid and Medicare Part B accepted. Typically, you see the flu later in the winter so you can get a flu shot well into the late winter months, spokesman Joe Gugle said. It can take two weeks for the vaccine to build antibodies for full protection, spokeswoman Debra Quakenbush said, adding getting the shot now will help protect people as families gather during the holidays. This year's flu shot includes the H1N1_ the strain which caused last…
Scott Vander Weit
7:11 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
There have been a record number of vaccines given this year, and there has been a record number of flu cases? "The vaccines that are available this year are a fairly good match to the strains of the flu that are circulating". CDC spokesman Tom Skinner. Coincidence??? more ›