The month of January is almost over, but the flu keeps getting worse, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
A report from the Immunization Partnership shows about 1150 people have died in Texas of complications relating to the flu since Octover 1.
Cherise Rohr-Allergrini, who heads the Partnership in San Antonio, says one reason the number of cases is up is that people have heard that the flu vaccine that is available is not entirely effective.She says that doesn't tell the whole story.
She says three strains of flu have been identified in Texas this season. Two are being effectively countered by the flu vaccine, and the other is being countered about 30% of the time.
"Thirty percent is better than zero, and you are not going to be as sick as if you didn't have the vaccine at all."
She says deaths from the flu happen every season, and the vast majority of people who die from influenza, unlike the great flu epidemics of the early twentieth century, are people who are already weakened by pre-existing conditions. But she says at least thirty pediatric influenza deaths have been reported in the U.S. so far this year, four of them in Texas, and that is another reason for everybody to get a flu shot. She says infants cant be vaccinated until they are six months old.
"So babies are not as protected by the flu shot, so we need to vaccinate ourselves so we are protecting those infants."
Rohr-Allergrini says in the 2012-2013 flu season, 56,000 people died nationwide of complications from the flu. She says this season has the potential to come close to that level.
She says while many people may think late January is too late to get a flu shot, that's not the case. She says the flu season will be around for another month to six weeks, and you can make the decision now not to spend that month flat on your back with the flu.
PHOTO: IMMUNIZATION PARTNERSHIP