Essentia Health Emergency Department physician Dr. Josh Honeyman’s interview with Flag Family News Reporter Chris Larson
REGION – Influenza continues to be a prevalent issue across the region.
According to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, more than 5,000 cases of influenza have been reported this season, including just under 1,500 in the week ending January 3.
Cass County is reporting the highest number of cases, with 1,039.
“Locally, we’ve seen a huge increase since after the holidays, which is to kind of be expected,” Essentia Health Emergency Department physician Dr. Josh Honeyman said. “With people gathering in close proximity, and travel, you typically do see an increase in respiratory viruses.”
Altru Health System recently reported a 50 percent positivity rate in influenza tests. Honeyman said Essentia’s positivity rates are not nearly as high.
“My personal experience is that most of the tests I’m running on people are coming back positive,” he said. “But there is also a number of non-influenza viruses circulating in the community that cause similar symptoms and sometimes can be hard to differentiate.”
Honeyman said approximately 15 percent of visits to the Essentia Health emergency department were for influenza in the last week.
While there is no specific treatment for influenza, supportive care can help lessen the symptoms.
That includes taking Tylenol or ibuprofen for fever, aches or pains; and over-the-counter cough medications.
There is an antiviral called Tamiflu. It works by helping to reduce the duration of symptoms by a short period and can also help reduce a person’s chances of having a severe infection.
“Tamiflu is only for people with risk factors,” Honeyman said. “We’re talking about people who are young, people who are older, so kids less than two, adults older than 65, or people who have chronic disease like heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, diabetes, immune system problems.”
Honeyman advises to head to the emergency room when you’re having severe weakness, chest pain, shortness of breath, persistent vomiting and other symptoms of severe hydration, such as lightheadedness or feeling you’re going to pass out.
“If you have mild symptoms, consider one of the alternatives,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t want to see you. It’s just that when we have a big influx of patients who are not critically ill, it can detract from those patients that are having heart attacks and strokes and appendicitis and things like that. And it just kind of slows everybody down.”
