FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 file photo, a nurse gives administers a flu vaccine shot in Washington. Preliminary data released by U.S. health officials on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2017 suggest this season's vaccine is 48 percent effective. That's not bad since the strain that’s making most people sick is one of the worst. Experts consider it a good year when a flu vaccine is 50 to 60 percent effective. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Local hospital officials say they continue to see an increase in the number of patients with flu-like symptoms.

Erlanger staffers treated 156 patients with flu-like symptoms over the past week from Feb. 12-18. That compares to only seven during the same period last year, and some 15 cases reported a month ago, hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Homa said.

CHI Memorial reported testing 242 people for the flu last week, with 44, or 18 percent, testing positive for the virus, spokeswoman Karen Long said. That compares to only 96 tests done for the same week last year, with 12 positive (12 percent).

Parkridge Health System reported 71 confirmed cases of flu thus far in February, compared to only 34 in all of February 2016.

The flu typically spikes suddenly each year and the time of the surge differs from year to year. Last year, the peak occurred in March, while two years ago it occurred in late December and early January.

For Erlanger, 92 of the patients seen last week were at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, while the hospital's facility in Bledsoe County reported 26 cases, Erlanger East had 19, the hospital's main campus on Third Street only 15, and Erlanger North five cases.

"This is the highest number of cases we have seen in one week since January 2015," said Coretha Weaver, director of infection prevention at Erlanger.

CHI Memorial's numbers included both the Hixson and Glenwood facilities.

The flu season sometimes lasts until May, so it is not too late to get a flu vaccine, health officials said.

"Getting the flu vaccine any time during flu season will help prevent the spread of the virus and decrease the severity of symptoms if someone does get the flu," Weaver said.

According to the CDC, this year's flu vaccine seems to be working about 48 percent of the time. The effectiveness of the vaccine varies, because each year's vaccine is a mixture depending on the strains of the flu virus that researchers believe will be the most prevalent during the coming flu season.

Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at 423-757-6673, sjohnson@timesfree press.com, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP, and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/noogahealth.

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