The seasonal influenza continues to make its presence known, with Norfork Public Schools dismissing classes twice this week due to illness and Izard County reporting the second highest public school absenteeism rate for the week ending last Saturday.
The latest weekly flu report from the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) indicates Izard County’s public school absenteeism rate stood at 11.38%, topped only by St. Francis County at 12.71%. The states average school absenteeism rate last week was 7.3%.
In North Central Arkansas the report indicates the absenteeism rate stood at 9.91% for Marion County, followed by Searcy County at 8.93%, Boone County at 8.41%, Fulton County at 7.45%, Baxter County at 7.41%, Newton County at 6.46% and Stone County at 6.1%.
As of Tuesday, ADH is aware of 41 schools/districts closing briefly due to the flu this season
During the flu season the ADH produces a Weekly Influenza Report for clinicians. The report provides information on flu activity in the state. The report also compares influenza-like-illness (ILI) in Arkansas to activity in the U.S. ADH receives reports of only a fraction of flu cases, since it only requires reports of hospitalizations, deaths and outbreaks.
Therefore, it is important to understand the information in the weekly update is representative of the timing and location of activity, but it does not reflect the overall burden of disease. It is presumed there are many more people actually affected than the report shows.
Since Sept. 29, over 27,500 positive influenza tests have been reported to the ADH online database by health care providers, with over 2,260 positive tests reported this past week. Reported cases reflect only a portion of the actual numbers of flu cases in the state.
Among flu antigen tests that can distinguish between influenza A and B virus types, 50% were influenza A, and 50% were influenza B.
To date, 65 influenza-related deaths have been reported in Arkansas this flu season, with one of them being pediatric. The CDC estimates 16,000 flu deaths have occurred nationwide, with 105 pediatric ones being reported this season.
Since Sept. 29, nine facilities including seven nursing homes in Arkansas have reported influenza outbreaks.
To view the full report, click here.
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