LAFAYETTE, La. (NEWS 15) — If you've been feeling achy with flu-like symptoms, you are not alone. Louisiana leads the nation in cases of flu-like illness. I want to analyze what is making people sick in Acadiana.
First, how do we define influenza-like illness? For CDC purposes, it is a temperature of 100 degrees, cough, and/or sore throat. This is a quick estimate of upper respiratory illness. It does not measure severity nor determine the specific bacteria or virus responsible.
So, for influenza-like illness, Louisiana does take an early lead this cold and flu season but the rest of the US is catching up.
Louisiana is about halfway through this cold and flu season and shows a moderate spike in activity. However, it is not far off from last year.
So, what is being seen in our area? The majority is influenza at 58%, followed by RSV at 18%, and then rhinovirus at 16%. The rest occurs in fairly small numbers and that includes COVID.
My colleagues tell me that we are seeing a fair amount of RSV in children. There is moderate activity, similar to last year, although this spike is occurring a little later in the season.
Fortunately, COVID activity remains low, similar to last year, as well as hospitalizations and mortality.
So, while there are fairly high influenza-like numbers, the symptoms tend to be mild. We will continue to monitor these trends throughout cold and flu season.
