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Flu Season Has Arrived In Wichita

Flu season has come early to Kansas this year; state health officials have confirmed two cases of influenza.

KDHE spokeswoman Miranda Steele says one case was identified through a system of clinics that monitor patients with flu-like symptoms. The other was identified by the Sedgwick County Health Department.

“Both are among adults in the Wichita area," she says. " These are the first two of the season, which has come a little early this year. Usually, the flu season begins around the holidays, and then it’ll peak sometime around February, before closing out in the spring.”

Flu symptoms include fever, dry cough, extreme tiredness and muscle aches. The state health officer, Dr. Robert Moser, says if you haven’t received a flu shot yet this year, now is a good time to do so.

Every year, between five and 20 percent of Kansans come down with the flu. Flu and pneumonia caused, or contributed to, more than 1,400 deaths last year in Kansas alone—the eighth-leading cause of death in the state.