by KYW’s Michelle Durham
With swine flu spreading through the Delaware Valley at quite a pace, it may be comforting for parents to hear that the number of cases coming through the E.R. at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is actually down.
CHOP Emergency room physician Richard Scarfone says things are calming down:
"We, compared to last week, have seen fewer patients presenting with swine flu. It's not entirely clear why. It's possible the SEPTA strike is having an impact. It's also possible that we are truly beyond the peak of the illness."
He says pandemics can normally peak up to three times and we've seen two peaks. He still wants all children vaccinated and has these words for the parents of asthmatic kids:
"I cared for many, many children with a history of asthma who also had influenza and almost certainly had H1N1 disease and again the vast majority of them didn't even require hospitalization. It may have triggered a little bit of an asthma flare in them but they recovered well and they were able to be discharged home."
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