The Iowa Department of Public Health says the flu season is starting to pick up as we approach the Christmas holiday. Department medical director, Patricia Quinlisk, says there are three strains of flu in the state this year, but they hadn’t been that much of a worry until now. “For most of October and November it was sort of steady at a very low level, but unfortunately it’s really starting to take off,” Quinlisk says. “We have quite a few more people being hospitalized, coming down with laboratory confirmed flu.”

Dr. Quinlisk says the concern now is that people will start getting together for holiday parties. “It is here and it is starting to spread and as we come across people starting to travel for the holidays, we are a little bit concerned that this is really going to take off,” Quinlisk says.

One way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated against it. “Don’t put it off any farther, holidays are coming up, you need to go get your flu shot now, so that again you won’t get the flu — and you won’t spread it to other people while you are traveling for the holidays,” Quinlisk says. The flu can cause you to get sick at a time when you’d like to be spending time with family and friends. And Quinlisk says in some cases it can lead to serious consequences.

“We know that — especially among the elderly — influenza is one of the top 10 causes of death,” Quinlisk explains. “Now people don’t usually think of people dying of the flu, but we do have people dying of the flu in Iowa every single year, and quite a few.” Quinlisk says there are plentiful supplies of the flu vaccine in the state.

(Radio Iowa)