Epidemiologic Notes and Reports
Update: Influenza -- United States, 1988-89 Season
National surveillance for the 1988-89 influenza season (1) began in
October. As of November 26, one outbreak in Ohio and
culture-confirmed,
sporadically occurring cases in Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland,
Michigan,
and Texas have been reported to CDC.
On November 22, the first outbreak of the season was reported from
Ohio. At the beginning of the school year, the Ohio Department of
Health provides each school district with guidelines on recognizing
possible outbreaks of influenza and other diseases and requests
that
such outbreaks be reported promptly to the local or state health
department. On November 14, an outbreak of influenza-like illness
was
reported to the state health department from one elementary and one
middle school in the same school district. On November 16, throat
swabs
were obtained from eight ill children and a 25-year-old teacher in
the
elementary school. Influenza type B was recovered from the
specimens
obtained from the teacher and four of the children. All persons
have
recovered without complications.
Six cases of influenza type B virus have also been reported in
children
in Texas. The first case occurred in Houston in a 5-year-old boy
who
had onset of an upper respiratory infection (URI) with fever of 100
F
(37.8 C) on October 11. A throat swab was taken 2 days later, and
influenza type B virus was isolated on October 17. Although the
patient's 11-year-old brother had symptoms of influenza-like
illness on
October 19, a specimen obtained from him on October 21 did not
yield
influenza virus. Two other isolates of influenza B reported from
Houston were recovered from specimens obtained from two children,
aged
5 and 10 years, on November 1 and 2, respectively; these children
were
patients of a pediatrician serving as a sentinel physician for the
Baylor College of Medicine Influenza Research Center. In addition,
three isolates of influenza type B have been recovered from
specimens
obtained from children 9, 11, and 12 years of age in Austin, Texas,
since late October. Influenza B virus has also been isolated from a
4-year-old child in Arizona and a 1-year-old child in Michigan.
Influenza type A virus has been reported from Maryland and Hawaii.
The
first case occurred in a 27-year-old male student in Bethesda,
Maryland. He had onset of severe headache, sore throat, myalgias,
arthralgias, and fever of 103 F (39.4 C) on Novem- ber 9. A throat
swab
obtained on November 10 by a physician participating in the
Sentinel
Physician Surveillance Network yielded influenza type A virus,
identified by rapid culture confirmation on November 14. The health
center at the student's university has since noted an increase in
cases
of influenza-like illness, but specimens obtained from other ill
persons at the university have not yielded influenza viruses. One
other
case of influenza type A has been reported; this case occurred in a
33-year-old woman in Hawaii during early November.
Further antigenic analysis of the isolates obtained from the
sporadically occurring cases and the cases in the outbreak of
influenza
B continues. Also, subtyping of the influenza A viruses is pending.
Reported by: L McAllister, T Payton, Ohio Dept of Health.
Participating
state and territorial epidemiologists and state laboratory
directors.
WHO Collaborating Laboratories. Sentinel Physicians of the American
Academy of Family Physicians. Influenza Research Center, Baylor
College
of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Div of Surveillance and Epidemiologic
Studies, Epidemiology Program Office; WHO Collaborating Center for
Influenza, Influenza Br, and Epidemiology Office, Div of Viral
Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC.
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