Forget the flu this year. At least for now, upstate doctor's offices are seeing a rash of something else: respiratory illnesses. Tanya Chappell knows the feeling. She's been fighting one for weeks. "It was so much pressure, I felt like my head was going to explode," Chappell says. "After a while, I just couldn't take it anymore!"
At Hillcrest Pediatrics and Internal Medicine in Simpsonville, doctors are hearing the same story. Patients complaining of constant cough, congestion, runny noses, and sinus pain are filling exam rooms. "The main reason they come in the door is, they say, they just can't shake it," says Dr. Jeremy Byrd. "Some adults have been sick for four to six weeks, and are still coughing."
Across town at the Doctor's Express on Woodruff Road, physicians have also seen an rise in respiratory complaints. Lead physician Dr. Winston Morris says the convenient care clinic has seen a 30% rise in respiratory illnesses in recent weeks. Morris says the warmer weather could be the cause, keeping flu numbers down so far this year. "I think the weather being hot one day, then cold one day, has caused a lot of the flu to be abated, and so, so far we haven't seen a lot of cases of the flu."
DHEC reports flu cases are dramatically down in the Upstate over this same time in 2011. Only one confirmed test has been reported in the Upstate.
The bad news: both doctors say the respiratory problems can be tougher to treat. Both Byrd and Morris say since they are generally viral, antibiotics are not the initial form of treatment. "Time is usually what's going to heal this," says Byrd.
If symptoms persist for seven to ten days, doctors recommend going in to see the physician. If the sickness has turned bacterial, antibiotics would be prescribed at that point.
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