What is reason for Season at peak levels early – swine flu blamed?
The Bay Area is unseasonably sick this month, and it’s almost definitely because of swine flu. Two Solano County schools were closed this week – including one school attended by a first-grader with swine flu who died Sunday – because of high absentee rates among students and faculty. All over the region, doctors’ offices and health clinics are reporting rates of respiratory illness that are unheard of for this time of year. It’s impossible to pin all of the sickness on swine flu – a form of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1 – because California long ago stopped testing every suspected case of the virus. But doctors and public health experts say there’s no doubt that swine flu is the main culprit. “We’re seeing a lot of what we think is probably H1N1,” said Dr. Eileen Chan, a Redwood City pediatrician. “October’s usually a nice month for us with kids back in school. It feels like February in our office now.” More than 1,000 people have died and 20,000 people have been hospitalized in the U
