Flu picking up in mid-Missouri

Nearly 900 cases of the flu have been confirmed across Missouri this season, the state Department of Health and Senior Services says.

As of Dec. 17, 51of the state’s 886 influzena cases were confirmed in Boone County. Only 35 cases had been confirmed in the county by the same time in 2015.

Scott Clardy, assistant director of the Columbia/Boone County Health Department, said the numbers are typical for the time of the year.

“Sixteen cases in the grand scheme of how many we’re going to have for the year most likely, or for the season, is not that big of an uptick,” he said. “I’ll be more concerned about it if we start seeing within the next week or two some more significant increases.”

Unlike the rest of the state, Boone County has seen more cases of Type B flu this season. In Missouri, the number of Type A cases is nearly double the number of Type B cases.

Clardy encourages everyone to get vaccinated, if they haven’t done so yet.

“Even if you get the flu shot and you do get the flu later, your symptoms won’t be as bad as if you hadn’t gotten the flu shot,” Clardy said. “So even if the vaccine is off a little bit it should help with the symptoms.”

Here’s the latest flu numbers across mid-Missouri:

Callaway: 3
Howard: 1
Cole: 11