2006 - 2007 Texas Influenza Surveillance Information
The flu activity level for the week ending November 4, 2006 is “sporadic”. Sporadic activity indicates that isolated reports of lab-confirmed flu along with influenza-like illness (ILI) have been reported.
The DSHS laboratory has identified another subtype of influenza. The specimen was collected on November 3, 2006 from a 25 year-old University of Texas at Austin student. It was identified as influenza A/H1. The isolate has been sent to CDC for further strain characterization.
Reports were received from all of the 11 Health Service Regions (HSRs) for week 44. Only HSRs 2/3 (specifically HSR 2) and 11 reported an increase in flu activity from the previous week. All HSRs reported some flu activity. For a map of Health Service Regions, please visit the following website:
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/regions/state.shtm
During week 44, four hospital laboratories across Texas reported conducting a total of 329 influenza tests (both antigen and culture) to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No positive tests for influenza were reported. The same four laboratories also reported conducting a total of 362 tests for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with 65 positives (18%). The highest percentage of positives (36%) was reported from the Corpus Christi area.
No institutional outbreaks or school closures were reported for week 44.
Fifty-seven sentinel providers reported influenza-like illness (ILI) during week 44. Of all patient visits during this week, 2.93% were due to ILI. The baseline for Texas is 3.71%. The baseline is the mean percentage of patient visits for ILI during non-influenza weeks for the previous three seasons plus two standard deviations.
| Percentage of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) Reported by Sentinel Providers in Texas as of 11/13/06 |
| Week |
# Reporting |
Age 0-4 |
Age 5-24 |
Age 25-64 |
Age over 64 |
Total ILI |
Total Patients |
% ILI |
| 2006-40 |
57 |
70 |
116 |
62 |
7 |
255 |
14955 |
1.70 |
| 2006-41 |
55 |
104 |
125 |
89 |
13 |
331 |
15876 |
2.08 |
| 2006-42 |
74 |
250 |
188 |
153 |
44 |
635 |
24701 |
2.57 |
| 2006-43 |
70 |
205 |
172 |
147 |
19 |
543 |
22252 |
2.44 |
| 2006-44 |
57 |
212 |
222 |
145 |
36 |
615 |
20935 |
2.93 |
Statewide Influenza Activity For the Week Ending November 4, 2006
(MMWR Week 44)
*Influenza activity level corresponds to current MMWR week only and does not reflect previous weeks’ activity.
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