Confirmed flu cases in Butler County are at an all-time high for the year and according to the Butler County Health Department are doubling each week.
"This is the highest number of cases we have seen at this time for the flu season," Butler County Health Department Communicable Disease Nurse Whitney Preslar said.
From Oct. 1 through Dec. 30, Butler County has seen 745 confirmed flu cases with 694 of those being Type A and 51 Type B.
Statewide, the number of confirmed cases comes in at 17,331. Preslar said a majority of those cases are Type A flu as well.
This time last year, reported statewide cases totaled 2,041.
A report published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported the vaccine is only about 10 percent effective against this year's flu strain.
Preslar said many different factors can go into this figure and the vaccine will still decrease the severity of the flu symptoms.
Preslar reported the health department has seen a decrease in the number of individuals being vaccinated this year.
"We still highly recommend getting the flu vaccine," she said.
Plenty of vaccines are available at the Butler County Health Department or by talking to your health care provider.
The flu season can run until the beginning of March, but Preslar said cases have been confirmed into May.
"It is not considered the peak of flu season," she said. "It's normally the end of January or early February."
With the peak hitting at this time, Preslar added this year's flu season could just be striking early, or it could be a long season.
To prevent the further spread of flu cases, Preslar recommends staying home if sick and help combat the spread of germs by plenty of hand washing.
Black River emergency medical doctor Chris Pinderski said between Black River Emergency and Physicians Park Urgent Care, 30 or so positive flu cases are being seen each day with about 90 percent being Type A.
"This number doesn't account for the 25 to 30 percent of flu swabs that come back with a false negative and the patient actually has the flu," he said.
As a physician, Pinderski said he recommends seeking medical attention for a flu swab when a fever of 101-103 develops with the sudden onset symptoms of muscle aches, fatigue and a dry cough.
Tamiflu is normally prescribed for patients with the flu, but Pinderski said it must be administered within the first 48 hours to be effective.
If caught in time, a person prescribed Tamiflu should be on the mend in three to five days, Pinderski predicted. Without the antibiotic, symptoms could linger up to a week.
After seeking medical attention and a significant fever of 101-103 lasts more than four days, Pinderski suggests seeing a physician to make sure pneumonia has not developed.
As far as the vaccine effectiveness for the year, Pinderski said this is nothing new, but some years "the target is better hit than others."
"This is not the most effective year," he said.
The flu vaccine is made the year before for the following year. As viruses mutate over the year, it can cause the vaccine to become less effective.
"I still recommend getting the vaccine," Pinderski said. "There is not much downside and it does help."