Memphis: LeBonheur Children's Hospital sees as many as 300 flu patients a day

[Emily]

The video at the link says that these are children and young people, (as you would assume with this being a children's hospital, though I wondered if they were taking overflow elderly patients since it seems unusual to have so many pediatric flu cases seeking help at a hospital.)

Dr. McCullers says that they usually only see one strain of influenza at a time during an outbreak, so he is fascinated by the fact that they are seeing 3 at once in this surge. (No deaths or serious outcomes are mentioned in the video.)

http://www.wmctv.com/story/17067427/lebonheur-sees-as-many-as-300-flu-patients-a-day

LeBonheur sees as many as 300 flu patients a day


Posted: Mar 02, 2012 1:15 PM PST Updated: Mar 02, 2012 3:32 PM PST
By Anna Marie Hartman
MEMPHIS, TN -

(WMC-TV) - Doctors at LeBonheur Children's Hospital are seeing as many as 300 patients a day complaining of flu-like symptoms.

LeBonheur Children's Hospital's new chair of pediatrics, Dr. John McCullers, got to Memphis just in time to see a very unusual flu outbreak.

"It's not unusual to have a busy ER," said McCullers. "What is unusual is this up-tick in the flu specifically."

The number of flu cases has gradually increased since children returned to school after Christmas break. In the past two weeks, doctors said cases being treated at LeBonheur have doubled.

[snip]

What is even more unusual is that doctors usually see one type of flu at a time. This year, they have seen three.

"We have all three types of flu hitting Memphis at the exact same time, so that's really a fascinating thing to be going on right now," said McCullers...