Alaska. For the week ending December 14, 1985, Alaska reported
its third consecutive week of widespread influenza outbreaks.
Alaska
is the only state to report outbreaks during this period. The
Northern Regional Laboratory has identified 48 influenza
viruses--36
type A(H3N2) and 12 type B. Most of the type B isolates have been
identified from patients with recent onset of illness. Absentee
rates
in many primary and secondary schools in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and
Juneau increased to above 20% in association with outbreaks of
influenza-like illness (1). In one high school, located
approximately
100 miles east of Anchorage, absentee rates increased from the
usual
5% (8/167) to 47% before gradually returning to normal. Increased
absenteeism has also been noted among adults. As a result of an
outbreak of influenza-like illness, the absentee rate in the
nursing
staff of an Anchorage hospital increased from the usual 1% (5/340)
to
a peak of 12% on December 3.
Texas. In late November, four type B viruses were isolated in
association with sporadic influenza cases in Houston. Earlier
isolates from Texas--a type A(H3N2) in October and a type B in
mid-November--were also associated with sporadic activity.
Washington, Colorado. Influenza virus type A(H3N2) has been
isolated from a 26-year-old woman in Chelan County, Washington, who
had onset of influenza December 3, and from a 48-year-old Denver,
Colorado man who had onset December 8. These are the first reports
of
influenza virus isolates from these states this season.
Reported by D Ritter, Northern Regional Laboratory, JP Middaugh,
MD,
State Epidemiologist, Div of Public Health, Alaska Dept of Health
and
Social Svcs; Influenza Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, CE Alexander, MD, State Epidemiologist, Texas Dept of
Health;
S Mills, V Shinn, J Allard, PhD, Director, Washington State Public
Health Lab, J Kobayashi, MD, State Epidemiologist, Washington Dept
of
Social and Health Svcs; G Meiklejohn, MD, M Levin, MD, Health Svcs,
University of Colorado, Denver, SW Ferguson, PhD, State
Epidemiologist, Colorado Dept of Health; Div of Field Svcs,
Epidemiology Program Office, Influenza Br, Div of Viral Diseases,
Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC.
Reference
CDC. Update: influenza activity--United States. MMWR
1985;34:741-2, 747.
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