JACKSON - Mississippi has run out of the influenza vaccine just as hospitals and clinics across the state are treating more patients with fevers, headaches, and other flu symptoms.
Dr. Mary Currier, state epidemiologist, said clinics were low on the vaccine Monday and out by Wednesday.
Currier said a nasal vaccine mist, used in patients ages 5 to 49, is available at some physicians' offices. Unlike flu shots, which are made with killed influenza virus, FluMist is made with weakened but live virus.
The state still has a good supply of pediatric vaccine for children ages 6 to 35 months old.
"We're probably at the worst of the season right now, but it doesn't look like it's a horrible season compared to other seasons," said Currier, who confirmed the state is investigating a report of flu-related death in Harrison County.
Forrest General Hospital's emergency room is averaging about 230 patients a day with approximately 20 percent of those being diagnosed with flu symptoms, said David Herrin, a patient care manager at the Hattiesburg hospital.
The emergency room at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson is treating about double the usual number of patients for fever and other flu-like symptoms, Kristi Henderson, UMC's emergency department nursing director, said Wednesday.
"We are now seeing about 12 a day that meet criteria for flu," Henderson. "The most important thing for a patient to know is that there are medications that can be given to shorten the duration of it."
Currier said nearly 800 people died in Mississippi last year from influenza and pneumonia, the most common complication of the flu. She didn't know how many of those deaths were pediatric cases, but noted that the state "always has pediatric deaths."
The death toll from the flu is usually tallied from the inspection of death certificates because it is not a reportable disease in the state, Currier said.
Earlier this month, Mississippi was added to the list of states with widespread flu activity by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To keep track of flu cases, 45 physician offices and emergency rooms in the state report to the Health Department about the number of patients they see with flu-like symptoms.
In the last three weeks, 17 percent to 20 percent of the cases at the 45 offices and clinics have been for flu symptoms, Currier said.
Patients with flu symptoms began appearing several weeks ago at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus, said Christina Brown, director of marketing. The patients range from children to adults, she said.
Brown said the hospital had a small supply of the vaccine.
"We order it every year for our patients and our employees. We have some left over. It's kind of like gold," Brown said.
Mississippi could possibly get more vaccine because the CDC is purchasing it from another country, Currier said.
"It wouldn't be for a while before we got it. It wouldn't be this week for sure," she said.
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