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Flu hits Sacramento region
By Dorsey Griffith - dgriffith@sacbee.com
Published 8:08 pm PST Monday, February 11, 2008
Health clinics in the Sacramento area appear to be handling more and more cases, and some schools have reported high numbers of absent kids the past couple of weeks.
"It could definitely get worse before it gets better," said Dr. Howard Backer, chief of the immunization branch at the California Department of Public Health.
While it seems like everyone you know is getting ill, official flu data don't yet suggest that this year's virus is hitting more people, or with a bigger punch, than it has in the recent past.
Health officials are concerned that this year's flu vaccine, which was plentiful and aggressively touted, may not be as protective against the virus as hoped.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week estimated that nearly half the flu cases this season have been caused by strains of the virus not specifically covered by the 2007-08 vaccine.
Flu vaccine is developed annually, and its components are based on the predominant strains of the virus circulating at the time, about a year prior to the flu season for which it is intended.
The CDC said the vaccine developed last year did not include two strains being detected this season: a new strain of an existing virus, called "Brisbane/10," from the influenza A family, and a new strain of the less-common B family called "Yamagata."
For a complete story, see Tuesday's Bee.
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