San Diego is beginning to see troubling signs of what health officials have long been warning: a potentially severe flu season in the coming months.
Forty percent of the student body at Patrick Henry High School were out sick at the end of last week — the result was a suspected flu outbreak.
Equally troubling is the number of children hospitalized in San Diego County with the respiratory virus RSV, a version of the common cold that can lead to shortness of breath and in some cases viral pneumonia in children.
Dr. Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at Rady Children's Hospital and UC San Diego, says that it's possible the region could be in for a worse flu season compared to previous years.
Sawyer points to high cases of flu across the Southern Hemisphere, which just concluded its flu season, as a potential red flag.
He also points to higher-than-usual rates of illness already being recorded at this point in the year.
"We've already started to see more cases than we already do in October ... those two things together have people concerned that we're going to see a really big (flu) season," Sawyer said.
Sawyer joined Midday Edition on Tuesday with more on the looming flu season.
