That Sniffly, Achy Feeling Returns

The number of influenza cases are beginning to tick up in Maryland, according to this Sun story.

And we thought the bug might pass us by:

Public health and hospital officials say that seasonal influenza, with all its aches, fevers and assorted other agonies, is indeed on the increase in Maryland this month, with a peak due in the next three or four weeks.....

....Melissa Cyr sat in [Dr. David del Rosario's Glen Burnie] examining room yesterday afternoon, waiting for her flu test. She looked weak, flushed and very unhappy. The 16-year-old from Columbia was brought to the clinic by her father, city paramedic Craig Cyr, after she fell ill over the weekend.

On Sunday, she said, "I woke up, sat up and got really woozy, and the room was spinning. My dad came into my room, and I was really shivering."

She slept from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., then complained of weakness and trouble breathing. "Every time I try to take a deep breath, I cough," she said. Her appetite had fled.

Del Rosario took samples to test her for influenza and strep throat and planned an X-ray to look for pneumonia.

He estimated that 30 percent of the people he has seen recently with respiratory complaints have turned out to have influenza. And while their symptoms have not been any worse than in past years, patients are coming in with more complications.