By Stacey Singer

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 4:57 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010

Posted: 11:51 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010

Influenza is back, and it’s surging about two weeks earlier than usual in Florida, health officials said Wednesday.

The most common flu strain is different than last year’s H1N1 swine flu. This time, it’s the H3 strain making the local rounds, and it has contributed to the deaths of 123 people in Florida so far this season, health officials said.

In Palm Beach County, 10 residents and four staff members of a single nursing home were among those sickened by the virus, in late November. they all took Tamiflu and recovered, health officials said.

Importantly, this year’s H3 flu strain is a good match for this year’s vaccine, which is still widely available. People who were vaccinated against the H1N1 strain last year won’t be protected against this H3 strain, and need to be revaccinated, health officials said.

The H3 flu is sensitive to Tamiflu, the antiviral medicine that many people stockpiled last year amid pandemic fears.

There may be a flu-fatigue effect happening this year. Clinics are reporting light interest in the vaccine after last year’s near miss with the pandemic strain, which wasn’t as contagious or as virulent as advertised.

Interest in the shots this year has been so anemic that urgent care chain MedExpress announced it would be giving them away for free to children in kindergarden through the 12th grade until Jan. 15. It has four locations in Palm Beach County. Visit medexpress.com for addresses.

The Palm Beach County Health Department has a grant to provide flu vaccines in all elementary schools. This year about 20 percent fewer parents gave permission for their kids to be vaccinated. About 15,000 children were vaccinated.

"We can only speculate why," said Dr. Marsha Fishbane, school health director for the Health Department. "our vendors said that across the country, many areas are experiencing a drop of even more than 20 percent in vaccinations."

Perhaps it was the lack of last year’s odd summer flu spike, or the fact that this year, there’s no pandemic fear, she said.

But although the flu may be manageable for most healthy people, state health officials underscored its continued danger to pregnant women, people with chronic disease and those who are immune compromised.

"We want to urge people who have not had a flu vaccine that it’s not too late, and they should take precautions," said Julia Gill, director of the Florida Department of Health’s disease control division, during a news conference.

Gill said the news conference was called, in part, because 4.5 percent of all emergency room visits in Florida are now for flu-like symptoms. That’s more than twice what the ERs usually see at this time of year.

There have been three localized outbreaks reported in the state, including the Palm Beach County nursing home, a Brevard County long-term care facility and a school in Hendry County.

Even more widespread than the flu right now are the cold virus and respiratory synctial virus, which can be dangerous for premature infants, state figures show. Adenovirus and parainfluenza are also prevalent.

Gill underscored the importance of taking precautions against all respiratory diseases: stay home when sick; wash hands frequently; and avoid touching your mouth and nose.

Nationally, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are keeping an eye out for yet another novel strain of swine flu that was discovered in Minnesota. It’s an H3N2 strain, and six people have been identified with it. That’s not the strain circulating in Florida right now, based on subtyping done at state labs, Gill said.

"This year this strain of influenza a is just the normal circulating strain that we usually see, and it is a very good match for the influenza vaccine that is being given this year," Gill said.