LEWISTON – It’s a bit late, but it’s here: Influenza has started making the rounds – and making people miserable – locally.

“It has arrived,” said a spokeswoman for Central Maine Medical Center.

Arrived in a big way, says her counterpart at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.

Emergency room physicians and nurses at St. Mary’s have noted “a lot more influenza cases than in the past couple of years, much more than last year,” said Kayt deMerchant.

That’s in contrast to CMMC.

“We’re seeing a few cases, but not a huge number like we did last year,” said a CMMC spokeswoman.

She went on to describe the outbreak as “not anything significant” as of now.

DeMerchant said that while St. Mary’s caseload appears to be up, “the cases appear to be mild.”

She said the hospital has seen “very few admissions” of people with flu-like symptoms. Most people seeking treatment have found relief with prescription medications, she added.

State health officials monitoring the progress of the flu in Maine say that through Saturday, they’ve been able to confirm 38 cases. All but one were identified as type A.

Last fall, facing a shortage of flu vaccine, national and state health officials feared the outbreak could be far worse.

The list of those eligible for the vaccine was tightened several times, until only the most threatened people could hope to get a shot. After Thanksgiving – the traditional start of the flu season in Maine – it became clear fewer people than anticipated were seeking the vaccine. That resulted in a surplus, allowing doctors to be more liberal in deciding who could get a shot.

The state’s Board of Health, in tracking this year’s outbreak, said monitored schools saw an average absentee rate of 6.2 percent daily for the week ending Jan. 12. Individual school rates ranged from a low of 2.7 percent to a high of 10.7 percent.

During the same week, two of three cities reporting told the board that 10.3 percent of the death certificates they issued listed pneumonia and influenza as likely causes.

No influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported.

By the numbers

Flu cases

38: Number of confirmed flu cases in Maine as of Jan. 12

37: Number of cases of influenza A

1: Number of cases of influenza B

6.2: Average percent of students absent daily from 42 monitored schools week of Jan. 2-8

5: Number of flu-like outbreaks reported in nursing homes

(Source: Maine Board of Health)