GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — A new flu strain is making Texas residents miserable as the new year begins, with health officials at Baylor Scott & White Clinic in Navasota reporting widespread cases of the mutated variant.
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The strain, known as Subclade K, is quickly becoming the dominant flu variant across Texas, leaving neighbors dealing with severe symptoms and prolonged recovery times.
"The flu, zero stars, would not recommend," said Cindy Wiley, an Anderson resident whose entire family recently battled the illness.
Dr. Jaime Benton from Baylor Scott & White explained that this flu season is particularly challenging.
"Sometimes we're lucky we only get 1. Sometimes it peaks again a little bit later in the year, and we don't love that," Benton said.
Health officials recommend taking over-the-counter antivirals like Tamiflu to reduce severity, but timing is crucial for effectiveness.
"So what we know is the sooner the better, and after 48 hours, that effectiveness starts decreasing. Really, the reason why is because by that point, a lot of that viral replication has occurred by that point," said Dr. Seth Sullivan from Baylor Scott and White Health.
Wiley described her family's experience as particularly severe, with temperatures reaching dangerous levels.
"As soon as we felt like we were getting better, we weren't. And then our temperature would go up and it was really high. It would go up to like 104. Nothing was working. And there was a couple of times when we thought, OK, we need to go to the ER because we couldn't get our temp to come down. It was, even with Tylenol, ibuprofen. It was scary," Wiley said.
With cedar fever season also underway, distinguishing between the two conditions can be challenging for patients.
"Cedar fever, you can get a low grade fever, and you get a lot of those symptoms. So for some patients, it's really hard to distinguish whether they have the flu or they're just allergic to the state of Texas," Benton said.
Health officials stress the importance of staying home when sick to prevent spreading the virus to others.
"I know his parents we're all tempted, it's a little head cold, oh, it's a little fever, you'll be fine, you have a test. But if you go, sharing is really not caring. You don't want to spread that amongst the whole elementary school," Benton said.
Recovery from this new strain appears to take longer than typical flu cases.
"So it was a week that we had it, and then an extra week to a week and a half to even feel like ourselves again," Wiley said.
Dr. Benton recommends good sleep, proper hydration, and maintaining a healthy diet as additional ways to lessen the impact of the flu.
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