Flu-like bug hits Rochester area schools; vaccinations urged

Twenty schools in Olmsted County are reporting higher than usual rates of absenteeism due to an influenza-like illness.

Flu season this year is starting earlier than usual and preliminary reports show the type of flu circulating is not covered by the current vaccine, said Linda Haeussinger, the county's disease prevention and control nurse manager. Most of the cases are influenza A (H3N2).

Still, she recommends people get vaccinated to prevent a strain of the flu that might hit later in the season or to minimize symptoms if they contract the current strain.

"It will provide protection from other strains of flu that may circulate later," she said. "For people who still get the influenza that's circulating right now, they're not going to become as ill as somebody who doesn't get any vaccine.