The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source: Fox News
Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:25 PM
CDC: Flu Peaking While Certain Treatments Running Low In East Tn Pharmacies
Local 8 News learned Friday, January 26, the flu has killed three people at UT Medical Center alone so far this flu season. UT Medical Center said they had treated 163 cases of the flu at their facility.
According to Connie Cronley from the Knox County Health Department, "The CDC puts out a number that they call our threshold of influenza-like illness, and once it gets over that threshold, that's when we're in what we consider an epidemic."
According to news reports, one flu treatment, Tamiflu, has begun running low in some East Tennessee pharmacies.
Elizabeth Royal, pharmacist at Belew Drugs, told Local 8 News, "Our supplier that we use hasn't had an issue supplying it to us, but there has definitely been a shortage across the country."
Manufacturers each year have a set amount of Tamiflu at the beginning of the flu season, but with the high volume of people who have caught the flu makes the demand higher.
Royal said, "It probably was just worse than expected because a lot of it is that H3N2 strain, which is what children and elderly are passing away from."
Local 8 News reached out to several pharmacies and drug stores in Knoxville and found some were running low on liquid versions of Tamiflu. Generic versions of the drug were also flying off the shelves at some locations.
The Tennessee Department of Health said Friday four children and one pregnant woman had died in the state from illness related to the flu. Two of those children who had died were from East Tennessee.
For a look at how the flu is affecting states across the country, see the CDC's influenza summary map online.