Flu is spreading faster across Texas, with the share of positive tests at hospital labs jumping by more than five percentage points in a single week, according to the state's latest respiratory virus report.
The Texas Department of State Health Services report, released Friday and covering Oct. 25 through Oct. 31, shows 794 of 4,585 specimens tested by 16 hospital laboratories came back positive for influenza. That is 17.32%, up from 11.84% the week before.
Doctors' offices that report to a federal tracking network also saw more patients with flu-like symptoms. Those visits made up 4.69% of all patient visits, up from 3.02%, and edged above the season's baseline of 4.65%. The CDC's activity indicator for Texas moved from low to moderate.
Mostly one strain so far
Nearly all positive results, 97.1%, were influenza A. Of the samples labs broke down further, 108 of 110 were the H1N1 subtype. Influenza B accounted for 23 positive tests.
Six of the state's public health regions reported more flu activity than the week before, including Region 2/3, the North Texas region that takes in Collin County. Two regions reported declines.
School-age patients drove much of the increase. Providers logged 820 flu-like illness cases among people ages 5 to 24 during the week, up from 417 the week before, and 502 among children under 5.
