First influenza death in Idaho reported in Nez Perce County

Nov. 11—A Nez Perce County man older than 65 was Idaho's first influenza-related death of the 2022-23 season, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported Thursday.

Mike Larson, division administrator at Public Health — Idaho North Central District, said is is a yearly occurrence to alert people in Idaho of the first influenza-related death of the season. Over the previous five influenza seasons, the first influenza-related death had occurred in the first week of November, although the date has ranged in the past from late September to late December. Idaho has averaged 45 reported influenza-related deaths each year for the past five seasons, with most reported deaths among people older than 65 years of age.

Larson said the first death is generally elsewhere in the state, so it may go unnoticed in District 2. The department, however, does issue news releases about influenza deaths each year.

"Seasonal influenza continues to not be reportable in Idaho, so the data presented on this state site is surveillance data voluntarily provided by hospitals and clinics across the state that choose to participate in this process," Larson said. "The state does maintain an influenza dashboard to present this data, reporting the number of influenza-like illnesses, influenza-related deaths in all districts and predominant influenza type/subtype present."

There have been 43 influenza infections in District 2 this week, Larson said.

Larson said health department officials cannot gauge the severity of the influenza season in advance, "but per the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), influenza in the Southern hemisphere was more severe than in previous years, and therefore the cases in the Northern hemisphere may follow that course as well."

The number of influenza deaths each year also is variable, Larson said.

"Since all of this data depends upon what is included upon the death certificate as a cause or contributing factor of the death, as produced by the practitioner or coroner, there can be many deaths or few attributed to influenza each year, and that historical data can be found at the CDC site Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report — CDC (bit.ly/3A7NS86). This site can provide the data for what is going on at the national level as well as link to Idaho specific data."

Three respiratory viruses are in circulation right now: influenza, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and Respiratory Syncytial Virus, the health department said. The potential for more respiratory infections because of the combination of these viruses has been referred to as the triple threat or "tripledemic."

People are urged to consider vaccinations against these diseases, the department said. That includes everyone older than 6 months and people at higher risk for complications.

Symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills or fatigue. Although most people who get the flu recover after a few days, some people can have serious complications and the disease could be fatal.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.