Intermittent occurrence of health care-onset influenza cases in a tertiary care facility during the 2017-2018 flu season

Health care-onset influenza (HOI) poses a major risk for hospitalized patients. During the 2017-2018 season, 37 HOI cases out of 382 inpatients (9.7%) with influenza were detected in a tertiary care hospital. HOI and community-onset influenza cases peaked simultaneously, and employee absenteeism was delayed by 1 month. A HOI to community-onset influenza case-comparison revealed associations with placement in rehabilitation, leukocytosis, health care-associated infections, and elevated mortality rates. Interventions should be selected based on the epidemiology of influenza occurrence. (C) 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.