Flu season starts out slower in Deschutes County

The flu season has begun, and on Wednesday, the federal Food and Drug administration approved a new treatment for those who’ve already contracted the flu.

Baloxavir Marboxil is a treatment for acute uncomplicated influenza in patients 12 years of age and older who have been symptomatic for no more than 48 hours.

“This is the first new antiviral flu treatment with a novel mechanism of action approved by the FDA in nearly 20 years,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

“With thousands of people getting the flu every year, and many people becoming seriously ill, having safe and effective treatment alternatives is critical. This novel drug provides an important, additional treatment option,” he said,

Deschutes County Health Services officials said the current flu vaccine began being developed over the summer and became available last month.

They said they will not know the effectiveness of the vaccine until later in the season, maybe not even until next spring. However, they did confirm the number of confirmed cases so far in the county are very different from this time last year.

“We haven’t posted this week’s flu report yet because we’ll still waiting on some data.” county epidemiologist Jennifer Faith said. “We’ve only seen two positive cases, and at this time last year we saw 20. But again, last season we did see cases earlier in the season compared to what we’ve historically seen. So last season was a little bit different.”

Faith also said there are some really good ways to prevent the spread of the illness and keep yourself healthy.

“Other preventative things you can do besides get the flu vaccine are just making sure you’re keeping up really good hand hygiene, so wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water,” she said.

” If you do get sick, stay home from work or school so that you don’t spread it to other people, and if you do cough or sneeze, do that into a tissue so then you can throw that away.”

Even though this year’s Deschutes County numbers are currently lower than last year, Faith also said that doesn’t mean we’ll stay that way, and it’s important to track the changes from year to year.

“So in the past, we’ve kind of peaked in February, historically,” Faith said. “But the past two flu seasons we peaked right around the new year. So it kind of varies by season, so we don’t really know. So that’s why we do active surveillance every single week, to kind of keep an eye on what’s going on in our community.”

For up-to-date data on the current flu numbers, visit: https://www.deschutes.org/health/page/local-flu-surveillance

For more information on the new flu treatment, visit: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm624226.htm