Late start to the flu season

TULSA - The flu season seems to be reflecting the winter season.

Both have been pretty mild.

In fact, influenza is showing up pretty late this year.

There is a couple of reasons for the late start.

The Center for Disease Control says when you look at this season compared to last season the viruses are similar.

More people may be immune to it.

More people were also vaccinated.

"This has been a very mild flu season for us so far this year, for sure," said Kaitlin Snider with the Tulsa County Health Department.

Flu cases usually spike in January or mid February.

Snider said, according to the CDC, it has been about 30 years since the flu showed up this late.

"This is pretty uncharacteristic for what we usually see," she said.

The flu is unpredictable, from when it starts, to when it peaks and ends.

"The flu season can start as early as October but it can last as late as May. It would not be unheard of for us to have an April flu season," she said.

Chad Perkins is on the front lines as a physicians assistant at ERgent Care in South Tulsa.

Perkins says earlier in the month there was an outbreak in Japan.

"That's kind of traveled over across through California, over the last couple of weeks, and just kind of primarily hit the Tulsa area and the general area over the last week," he said.

ERgent Care treated nearly a dozen cases last week.

Then a few more this week.

"It's kind of surprising, we thought we were going to get away with missing it," Perkins said.

It's late, but the flu is here.

Now it is a question of just how long the season will last.

Snider said it's not too late to get your flu vaccine.

It usually takes about two weeks after the shot for your body's immune response to kick in.

EMSA said it's taking an average of 20 people a day to the hospital with flu like symptoms.

This week the Oklahoma Health Department reported that two people died from complications with the flu.