Flu Has Killed 27 In California Since October, Medicines In Short Supply

With a rapid increase in the number of flu cases reported in California and hospitals across the state operating under full capacity, pharmacies are facing a shortage of medicines and the death toll is higher than the previous year, Los Angeles times reported.

The emergency rooms were swarmed with people as the latest outbreak of influenza was worse than the previous outbreaks witnessed in the region.

There was a severe backlog in the ambulance services as the hospital staff were unable to accommodate patients into already packed emergency rooms. Ambulance services could also not attend to several 911 calls, said Jose Arballo Jr., spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Public Health to L.A. times.

Los Angeles Times reported the increase in calls coming in from the Riverside and San Bernandino counties had severely strained ambulance service operations.

The flu impacted all the regions in California, with the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center treating over 200 patients a day, the largest number of patients treated since the Northridge earthquake.

According to Los Angeles Times, health officials said Friday flu cases spiked sharply in December and didn’t seem like letting up anytime soon. Twenty seven people below the age of 65 died of the flu in California since October.

The flu vaccine was falling short of delivering a swift cure, due to its limitations to fight a strain of influenza known as H3N2. Recovery rate was slow since the vaccine was only 32 percent effective, national health officials said.

The ineffectiveness of the vaccine against the virus, which can be described as a dangerous, might be contributing to the increase of patients in the country, Los Angeles Times reported.

L.A. County’s interim health officer Dr. Jeffery Guzenhauser told the Los Angeles Times, “It tends to cause more deaths and more hospitalizations than the other strains.”

Experts said this year’s flu season peaked earlier, which might be responsible for the rising number of deaths in the region. The flu season usually peaks around February, but can reach a crescendo anytime from October to April. This time last year, influenza had only claimed the lives of 3 people, it had also taken 68 lives by the end of February, according to state data, Los Angeles Times reported

However, many doctors contend this year’s outbreak was significantly higher compared to the previous cases in the region.

“Rates of influenza are even exceeding last year, and last year was one of the worst flu seasons in the last decade,” said Dr. Randy Bergen, clinical lead of the flu vaccine program for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California.

According to the UCLA’s emergency room medical director Dr. Wally Ghurabi, there’s a growing concern for the elderly patients, who are suffering from a fatal combination of pneumonia and flu, being admitted to the hospital.

The drug, oseltamivir, prescribed to treat the flu has dwindled in supply and has become hard to find, Los Angeles Times reported.

Talia Dimaio, pharmacy clerk at Rancho Park Compounding Pharmacy in west Los Angeles said, “They’re all on back order right now. We can’t get it.”