Outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses in Hawaii were up nearly 8 percent from the previous week, according to the state Department of Health.
The Disease Outbreak Control Division’s weekly influenza surveillance report for the fourth week of the 2018 flu season, from Jan. 21 to 27, was released on Wednesday.
A total of 2,107 specimens for the week were tested for the virus statewide, and only 629 (nearly 30 percent) tested positive, according to the report. From those results, nearly 67 percent tested positive for influenza A. The age group with largest distribution for positive specimens was 5 to 24 years; the second-largest group with positive results was over the age of 65.
“However, among respiratory specimens collected and tested during the week, there are lower numbers of positive influenza test results,” said Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the department. “So, while we may be seeing increases in respiratory illnesses in the state, they are not necessarily from influenza.”
A recent government
report showed 1 of every 13 visits to the doctor last week was for fever, cough and other symptoms of the flu. That ties the highest level seen in the U.S. during swine flu in 2009.
And it surpasses every winter flu season since 2003, when the government changed the way it measures flu.
“I wish that there were better news this week, but almost everything we’re looking at is bad news,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During week four in Hawaii, two clusters of influenza B were reported to the state department. The cases occurred at a long-term care facility and a school on Oahu. More than 13 percent of all deaths that occurred in Honolulu during week four were related to pneumonia or influenza. There were 203 related deaths.
A total of 27 influenza clusters have been reported statewide so far this season.
