HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – It may be the season of giving, but doctors say people share more than gifts at holiday gatherings.
Health officials say there’s not much flu going around so far this flu season, but most flu seasons don’t really get going until around Christmas.
“We would normally anticipate we’d have more positive flu tests by this time in a typical year,” said Dr. Ron Reynolds.
Dr. Reynolds runs multiple Beach Family and Urgent Cares in Horry County and has only seen one flu case so far in any of the practices, “but we have seen cases of flu like illness.”
It’s a trend that’s on the rise locally, the CDC says South Carolina is the only state reporting a high level of traffic at doctors’ offices and clinics for flu-like symptoms.
“That in and of itself is a disease process, however the positive cases just haven’t shown up yet,” said Dr. Reynolds.
Traditionally, most flu seasons ramp up after the holidays, possibly triggered by holiday visits that bring together people and viruses.
“The holiday season is good for many things one of which is passing the flu from person to person,” said Dr. Reynolds.
Infected kids then go back to school, mingle with classmates, and flu season takes off.
“It can hit like a brick wall, and you’ll have one day where you’ll go hey I haven’t seen any and the next day the office can be filled with people that have flu,” said Reynolds.
Dr. Reynolds says the best way to protect yourself is with a flu vaccine, but it takes time to be effective so he recommends getting one before heading off for the holidays.
“Now would probably be a pretty good week to go ahead and get that flu vaccine before you put yourself into an environment where you can be exposed,” he said.
Scientists have predicted a 57% chance the flu season will peak in February of 2016.
