North Texas hospitals are seeing a surge in flu cases after the holidays.
Children’s Health recorded 425 influenza A cases in Dallas and Fort Worth over the past week. This represents a 52% increase compared to the previous week. At the same time, the number of RSV infections decreased by 13% and the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections decreased by 7%.
Despite the surge, Dr. Nikhil Bayani, medical advisor for infection prevention and epidemiology at Texas Health Resources, said it’s not unusual for cases to increase during this time of year.
“We are definitely seeing a significant increase in influenza cases across North Texas, especially during the early winter and holiday season,” Bayani said, according to WFAA.
Earlier this week, the Dallas Express reported that norovirus cases are accelerating across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also known as the “stomach flu,” this infection can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, an infectious disease expert at Children’s Health and a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in North Texas, said the hospital system hasn’t recorded a significant increase in norovirus cases locally, but the situation is He said he continues to monitor the situation.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Dr. Khan said, according to WFAA. “You could go from feeling well to suddenly having vomiting, explosive diarrhea, and abdominal pain, which can happen in just a few hours.”
The first severe case of bird flu was confirmed in the United States in December, according to the CDC. A person was hospitalized in Louisiana with a strain of the virus that has spread among wild birds and poultry in the United States and has also caused several human cases in Canada and Washington state.
Dozens of cases of bird flu have been reported in the United States since April, but all but one patient in Louisiana have reported mild symptoms.
