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By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
LPN Jennifer Bench administers a flu shot to Amity Low yesterday at
the Kaiser Honolulu Clinic. Low said that most of her co-workers
had contracted the flu and she wanted to protect herself.

Flu season may
be hitting isles late

The hacking and coughing
could also be caused by a nasty
common cold strain

---

By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

If there's been more hacking and nose-blowing around you lately, it may be because Hawaii's flu season is peaking later than usual. Or it may be a particular strain of the common cold that just won't go away.

A pediatrician at Kaiser's Honolulu clinic said that, judging by the number of cases he's seen, the "flu season is hitting now. It's a little late."

A nurse-practitioner at Kaiser, Pamela Burns, also said there have been lots of cold and flu-like symptoms going around.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Licensed practical nurse Jennifer Bench
is shown prepping a late-season flu shot.

Gina Hoopii of Punchbowl and Karen O'Brien of Kaimuki, waiting to see their Kaiser doctors, came down with the flu a few days ago.

Hoopii said her nephew had the virus first. O'Brien said she works at a school health room where all the kids have been sick.

Ann Nishida, public affairs spokesman for Straub Clinic, said a doctor at its busiest clinic on King Street downtown has noted a "definite increase in a persistent, bad cold in the past two months, that's not necessarily the flu."

But the good news is that Hawaii is having "a very mild flu season compared to last season," according to Judy Strait-Jones, project coordinator of the state Department of Health's Immunization Program.

"Hawaii has been lucky" because the state had difficulty getting enough flu vaccine for everyone late last year.

"But flu is a year-round thing. We're not out of the woods yet. The flu doesn't know a calendar. And it's definitely not too late" to get a flu shot, she said.