It is the respiratory virus season, and Dr. John Glick from Yuma District Hospital and Clinics was kind enough to share information with us.
Plus, Norovirus has gathered a lot of attention recently, but it does not appear to be much of an issue in the Yuma as of now.
Dr. Glick said YDHC is seeing quite a bit of the typical respiratory illnesses this season.
“This has included an outbreak of COVID (mostly earlier in the fall and early winter, but still lingering), an ongoing Flu outbreak, and what I would consider a typical amount of RSV,” he reported. “On top of this also numerous cases of the dozens of other respiratory virus’ that cause similar symptoms.”
Dr. Glick noted they are all viral illnesses, so antibiotics do not help treat them.
“Prevention is our best way to avoid them,” he shared.
“There are vaccines for Flu, COVID and RSV for appropriate patients that can help prevent illness, as well as decrease severity. Also social distancing, hand-washing and masking while sick make a big difference in spread for all of these.”
Dr. Glick said the viral illnesses are most dangerous for the elderly, the very young and patients with other chronic illnesses, particularly heart and lung problems and immune suppression.
There has been a lot in the news, as well as alerts from the CDC and the Colorado Department of Health on nationwide outbreaks of Norovirus, which is a gastrointestinal illness.
“I have talked to most of our urgent care and ER providers and they do not report a spike in this type of illness so far,” Dr. Glick reported. “We generally see a low level of gastrointestinal illness throughout the winter, but it seems to be within the normal range so far.”
He said often they do not test for particular causes because knowing so usually does not change the treatment, which usually is oral hydration to replace losses. Testing is done if there are “red flag” symptoms, such as bleeding, persistent fevers or severe abdominal pain.
“Having said that, I would not be surprised if we did eventually see an outbreak of Norovirus, as it is extremely contagious and certainly present on the Front Range,” Dr. Glick said.
Advice for patients is to wash hands, avoid close contact with sick friends, family and co-workers.
Reasons to visit the clinic in regards to respiratory virus’ include fevers greater than three to four days, struggling to breath, symptoms worsening for failing to improve after five to seven days.
Reasons to visit the clinic in regards to Norovirus include signs of dehydration, including poor urine output, dark urine, dizziness or lightheadedness.