The flu is usually gone by now. Dr. Ann Morrill isn't generally prescribing Tamiflu and bed rest in July to her Perry Hall patients. The emergency department at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson doesn't typically do a dozen flu tests a day this deep into summer.
But the H1N1 influenza virus - commonly called swine flu - continues to spread in Maryland and many other states, even though some experts thought it would have faded away by now across the country.
During the last week of June, the state confirmed 166 new cases - the highest weekly total since the first cases were confirmed here May 4. And officials believe that for every confirmed case, there are many more that go unconfirmed as the sick either don't seek medical treatment or are refused testing. Based on its mathematical models, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 1 million Americans have been sickened by this pandemic flu since the outbreak began.
"It died down in the press quite a bit, so many people think it's gone away," said Dr. Gail Cunningham, who heads the emergency department at St. Joseph. The hospital had a record number of visits in June because of people with flu-like illnesses. "The reality is, it's very much still present."
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the Bethesda-based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said summer's warm weather and high humidity make it hard for a flu virus to survive. In fact, the seasonal flu strain has disappeared.
But this new strain isn't behaving like the seasonal flu that hits each winter. It keeps infecting more people, despite what the calendar says.
"This is persisting in society," Fauci said. "It's unusual for the flu to do that."
Summer camps are feeling the impact. Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County sent campers home midway through a two-week session last week after 19 children came down with flu-like symptoms in 48 hours. The Muscular Dystrophy Association canceled more than half of its weeklong camp sessions - including two scheduled for Camp Maria in Leonardtown - on fears that children with already-compromised immune systems could become critically ill if they came down with flu, something that is more likely in a setting of shared cabins and meals in close quarters.
"We decided it was a little too risky," said Bob Mackle, an MDA spokesman.
