Here's a report suggesting the outbreak is now beginning to take off in Northern California. Kaiser is well established there, and uses its network of hospitals to monitor the outbreak. Some there are using "epidemic" to describe the recent rise. I would assume that most of these are Fujian:
"Health giant Kaiser Permanente, which conducts influenza surveillance for the state health department, reported Monday that 390 patients in its Northern California region tested positive for the flu virus in the week ending Dec. 6.
``I have never seen anything like this,'' said Dr. Roger Baxter, a consultant who for the last eight years has overseen Kaiser's flu vaccine program in Northern California, where the health company serves 3.2 million patients. ``We're in an epidemic situation.''
The 390 cases last week represented a dramatic bump from the same week last year when Kaiser doctors reported only one case of the flu. Baxter said there has been an upswing in the number of flu cases at doctors' offices and Kaiser hospitals in San Jose, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Alameda and other areas. The week ending Nov. 29 there were 229 flu cases reported.
And it's still early in the flu season, which typically tapers off in March.
Baxter added that an abnormally high 30 percent of those people with flu-like symptoms who were tested for influenza last week received positive results for the virus. Typically, a 10 percent result indicates an outbreak."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/7448956.htmThanks for all your work, bringing this information to the thread.
BTTT. (That means Back To The Top). :-)