Some Nurse Practitioners Seeing a Spike in Flu Cases

MONROE, La. (KNOE) – Medical professionals like Cynthia Pippins are seeing a spike in flu cases right before flu season should be quieting down.

 

“Personally at my clinic, I’ve had an influx of children,” says Pippins, a Nurse Practitioner with St. Francis Medical Group.

She says flu season typically ends the first week of April, but seeing cases this late in the season could mean flu season isn’t over yet.

“I kind of felt like it was a late presentation of the flu this year,” says Pippins. “And being that we’re still seeing the numbers that we’re seeing at this time when we’re usually going down, I expect it to extend a little longer.”

Pippins says she’s still seeing both A and B strains of the flu and says they’re both packing a good punch.

“A lot of people have said there’s a stronger strain out right now, a type A,” says Pippins. “That’s actually a little more harsh, and people are becoming more sick with that one.”

That’s why she says parents need to be on high alert when sending their kids to school, because even if you don’t have the typical flu symptoms, you could still have the flu.

“Unfortunately a lot of children will still go to school when they’re sick,” says Pippins. “And parents won’t be aware that it’s actually the flu and they’ll go to class with sniffles and coughing and everything.”

Pippins says if you feel sick, stay home from work or school and go see a doctor.