Flu season is building momentum in Maine, with both outpatient medical visits and hospitalizations on the rise. Though numbers are still small, according to the most recent weekly report from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, experts say Mainers should expect more widespread illness as the season progresses.
“It’s still early,” said State Epidemiologist Siiri Bennett. “We generally start seeing an increase about now, and we’ll gradually see more as time goes on.”
“The numbers are tiny right now, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, vice president for clinical affairs at the University of New England in Biddeford and Maine’s former top public health official. “They’re just telling you there’s an iceberg there.”
The weekly influenza surveillance report shows that of all Maine counties, Penobscot County has the most flu activity, with 60 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza and 24 hospitalizations. Next are, in order, York, Cumberland and Androscoggin counties. Penobscot County’s higher numbers likely reflect recent outbreaks in two unidentified long-term care facilities. The only other facility outbreak is in a public school in Somerset County, according to the report.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Mainers urged to vaccinate against a coming ‘brushfire’ of flu,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Meg Haskell,, please follow this link to the BDN online.
