GREENVILLE - South Carolina is one of three Southern states reporting an uptick in H1N1 flu that health officials are investigating.
Alabama and Georgia also are seeing an increase, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The H1N1 virus is still circulating, and people continue to become ill, be hospitalized and die from this virus," said the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat.
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About 60 million Americans have been infected, 265,000 have been hospitalized and 12,000 have died, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said. Most have been adults with health problems such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and other lung conditions, cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Most hadn't been vaccinated, she said.
CDC doesn't know why the virus is picking up, but public health officials wonder whether it could be the third wave of the pandemic that some had predicted.
"Pandemics traditionally come in at least three waves, and we've documented that we've gone through two of them," said Dr. Melissa Overman, medical director the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Region 2, which encompasses Greenville, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union and Cherokee counties.
"So our concern is it's still out there," she said. "And it could potentially turn into a third wave."
The first wave hit in April. Then after returning in August and peaking in November, the virus dropped off substantially by the end of the year, according to DHEC. There has been a steady upward trend since.
Dr. John Schrank, infectious disease specialist with Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, cautioned the public and the medical community not to be complacent.
Georgia had more than 40 hospitalizations last week, which was more than any other state and more than had been seen since October, Schuchat said.
Schuchat said that she worries more people will get sick because they believe the danger is over and that it's important for residents of states where the virus is circulating intensively to get flu shots, along with those who have underlying health conditions and those older than 65.
About 36,000 people die every year from seasonal flu, most of them elderly. But people younger than 65 account for about 11,000 of the 12,000 deaths from H1N1, Schuchat said.
Since Sept. 1, there have been 1,056 hospitalizations and 44 deaths from lab-confirmed H1N1 in South Carolina. Thirteen of those hospitalizations were in the week ending March 20, DHEC reported.
About 126 million doses of vaccine have been shipped, and local health departments have plenty of supply.
About 40 percent of schoolchildren in Region 2 have been vaccinated, Overman said, noting the rate for the general public is much lower.
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