Local News in Brief : Influenza Hits--but in Small, Late Dose
Flu has finally struck Los Angeles County, health officials said Friday--but so late in the season and in such small numbers that they have reason to hope this will not be a bad year.
Although there have been “a whole host of other viruses” being mistaken for influenza during the last couple of months, said epidemiologist Frank Sorvillo of the county Department of Health Services, the case of an 11-year-old Hollywood boy was the first known local diagnosis of influenza A. In addition, Sorvillo said, there are four confirmed cases of influenza B, “but I’m sure there are many more out there.”
The B strain, he noted, does not generally surface in widespread outbreaks and “is milder in its capacity to cause serious disease and death.”
On the other hand, Sorvillo said, studies have shown that Reye’s syndrome, an often-fatal children’s condition, sometimes strikes after influenza B and the use of aspirin to control fever.
He added that health officials advise parents not to use aspirin to control fever in children or teen-agers.
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