No, not the sun, although this sunny Sunday was a welcome relief from the cold and wet weather we've been having. What's back is Influenza A. We have seen a bump in flu cases this past week at our office. This strain seems a little different though... we've seen lots of older kids who complain mostly of severe muscle aches and fever, but have fairly mild runny nose and cough. We were a little puzzled until we had a few rapid flu tests come back positive.
If your child has flu-like symptoms, we can do a rapid flu test within the first 48 hours of fever. If it shows up positive, their are anti-viral drugs that we can use to make the flu symptoms milder and shorter, but only if we start them in the first two days. After that the horse has left the barn, so to speak. Family members can also be put on anti-virals preventatively to avoid catching influenza from their household contact. One reminder: anti-viral drugs can't be used on infants under the age of 12 months.