Flu Season is Coming Soon

We are in the early stages of the fall season, but that’s not the only thing that is starting right now.

Flu season is on its way. While there has not been a hospitalization due to influenza yet, Epidemiologist, Kristen Baker, at the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department said it could begin very soon. This year’s strain of influenza is not known yet because there haven’t been enough cases in Ohio yet this year.

"Seasonal flu season is very unpredictable," Baker said. "It usually cycles where we have a few years where it’s not so bad, and then we’ll have a year where it can be really bad. Last year wasn’t so bad for us here in Muskingum County, and in Ohio."

But the health department cannot rely on trends to predict if this year will be a bad year for influenza or not. The flu season has usually peaked around the end of January, but over the last few years it has started to peak earlier.

"In recent years it started to peak a little bit earlier so we recommend if you are going to get a flu shot you get it as soon as possible because it does take two to four weeks for a vaccine to become effective within your system," Baker said.

The health department is having a flu shot clinic on October 9 at the Muskingum County fairgrounds. For more information on influenza Baker recommended going to their website at www.zmchd.org or the CDC’s website www.cdc.gov.