Minneapolis Doctors See Uptick in Flu Visits

It's still early in the flu season, but doctors in Minneapolis say they're already seeing an uptick in visits of people with flu-related symptoms.At Park Nicollet's Plymouth Clinic, Maggie Carlson is not wasting any time in getting a flu shot.It comes as Dr. Larry Richmond says he's starting to see cases."We're seeing lots of people with flu-like symptoms, fever, feeling just down, tired, cough, achy," he said.One of the best ways to prevent the flu is with a vaccine.But this year's vaccines may not completely protect against a migrating strain of the flu epidemiologists labeled A-H3."There is an influenza A-H3 component of the vaccine, but what we've been finding nationally is that approximately half of the A-H3 strains identified have changed or drifted a bit from the vaccine strain, which unfortunately means there is probably some reduced protection," said Karen Martin, with the Minnesota Department of Public Health.Still, the health department and even Dr. Richmond advise patients to still get flu shot."I think flu experts will tell you it's never going to be perfect. However, the basic backbone of the vaccine can help fight against other viruses protective of those viruses, so I do highly recommend a flu shot," said Dr. Richmond.Especially as flu tracking data suggests it could be a bad winter for the flu."A-H3 tends to be more severe and we have had a dramatic increase in activity which underlines, again, that it might be a pretty rough year for influenza," said Martin.