Philly Flu Cases Already on the Rise

And vaccine may not offer as much protection.

NewsWorks reports that flu season is under way and looking to be a doozy:

With the flu season now ramping up, cases are on the rise across most parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware, which the CDC has classified with widespread disease. New Jersey has also seen increases in recent weeks, but influenza remains more localized.

Mark Zonfrillo of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has noticed the uptick.

“We’ve had a number of children who’ve already had to go to the intensive care unit because of severe influenza disease,” he said. “So this is a real threat.”

This year’s flu vaccine is proving to be only about 50 to 60 percent effective, officials said, but that still means more than half of users are protected from the virus.