Kansas health and medical professionals are bracing for what could be the state’s largest bout with the flu in several years.

It already is at work in Douglas County.

More than a dozen confirmed cases of influenza have been reported to the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, and Lawrence Memorial Hospital has a seen a few cases in its emergency room, officials said.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in activity,” said Kim Ens, a nurse at the Health Department.

Health experts are keeping a wary watch on serious flu outbreaks in Colorado and Texas. As of midweek, at least four children had died from the flu in Colorado. In Texas, state health officials have declared the flu to be widespread.

In Kansas, one person between the ages of 45 and 54 died from the flu in late October or early November, state health officials said. No other details about the death have been available.

“That’s very early in Kansas for an influenza case,” said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “Usually we don’t see one until December.”

At Lawrence Memorial, a few people with the flu have visited the emergency room within the past 10 days, Dr. Sabrina Prewett said.

“They’ve been of all ages, but a lot of them have been very young,” Prewett said. “We hospitalized one or two.”

Influenza information

The Eudora school district has seen increased absences from students suffering from flulike symptoms, but none had yet been confirmed and reported to the Health Department, Ens said.

Warnings of increased flu activity in the United States went out earlier this year from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Increased flu outbreaks had been seen earlier this year elsewhere in the world.

“Based on those tracks, we’re starting to see that come to light in the U.S., unfortunately,” Watson said.

So far the CDC lists Kansas’ flu cases as being “regionalized” while cases are “sporadic” in Missouri.

The flu is likely to spread to more people in the coming weeks, experts said. In Kansas there usually are a few cases in December with an increase late in the month that continues into January and February, Watson said.

“We would expect to see an increase after the holidays because of all the travel and the increased contact among individuals,” she said.

Health officials remind people it isn’t too late to get a flu shot.

“Most of the cases we see occur in people who do not have the flu shot,” Prewett said.

This year the Health Department has given about 6,000 doses of the flu vaccine, which is effective in preventing influenza types A and B, the primary strains seen this year, Ens said.

Although there has been concern about other strains of the flu being detected this year, those strains have not been found here, she said.

Even if they should occur, someone with a flu shot should endure the ordeal better than someone without the shot, she said.

The shot takes about two weeks to become effective. Health officials say it is especially important for people with heart, lung or other serious and chronic illnesses to get the shot. It also is recommended for those who are over 50 years old and children from 6 months to 23 months old.

There is no cure for the flu. It is a virus, and antibiotics have no effect on it. Although anti-viral medicines can help alleviate the symptoms, they also can cause side effects.

Flu outbreaks are cyclical, Ens said.

“We’ve had quite a few years that have been fairly mild,” she noted. “This may just be a bad year.”