2007 - 2008 Texas Influenza Surveillance Information

Influenza Surveillance Report for MMWR Week 50

The influenza (flu) activity level for Texas for the week ending December 15, 2007 is “local.” Local activity indicates that one Health Service Region (HSR) in the state is experiencing an increase in influenza–like illness (ILI) and has recent laboratory-confirmed influenza.

Reports were received from all 11 Health Service Regions for week 50. HSRs 7 and 8 reported an increase in flu activity from the previous week. For a map of Health Service Regions, please visit the following website:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/regions/state.shtm

During week 50, five hospital laboratories throughout Texas and the Texas Department of State Health Services Laboratory reported conducting a total of 598 influenza tests (antigen, culture, and PCR) to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Twenty antigen detection tests positive for influenza A/untyped were reported from Bell and Bexar counties. One PCR test positive for influenza A/untyped was reported from Bell County. In all, 13 reports of culture-confirmed influenza were received from NREVSS and other sources for the following counties:

The Air Force Institute for Operational Health (AFIOH) did not report any positive cultures for influenza virus from Texas bases for week 50. Additional positive results from point-of-care rapid flu tests were reported by providers throughout the state.

No institutional outbreaks or school closures were reported for week 50.

Sixty–two sentinel providers reported data to the U.S. Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance System (SPSN) on patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) and total patients seen for any reason during week 50. Sixty–one providers reported seeing patients during week 50; of those, 34 (56%) providers reported seeing at least one patient with ILI. Of all patient visits during this week, 3.46% were due to ILI. The ILI baseline for the West South Central Region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) of the United States is 4.3% for the 2007-2008 season. The baseline is the mean percentage of patient visits for ILI during non-influenza weeks for the previous three seasons plus two standard deviations.

The map showing influenza activity in the United States for MMWR week 50 is displayed below. The current U.S. flu weekly report may be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm

 

 

For more information on flu surveillance activities in the State of Texas, please visit our main surveillance page.

*Influenza activity level corresponds to current MMWR week only and does not reflect previous weeks' activity.

2007 - 2008 Texas Influenza Surveillance Information --- Flu Reports

For the week ending: 10/6/07; 10/13/07; 10/20/07; 10/27/07; 11/03/07; 11/10/07; 11/17/07; 11/24/07; 12/01/07; 12/08/07; 12/15/07; 12/22/07; 12/29/07; 01/05/08; 01/12/08; 01/19/08; 01/26/08; 02/02/08; 02/09/08; 02/16/08; 02/23/08; 03/01/08; 03/08/08; 03/15/08; 03/22/08; 03/29/08; 04/05/08; 04/12/08; 04/19/08; 04/26/08; 05/03/08; 05/10/08; 05/17/08; Annual Summary;

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