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# L.A. COUNTY Respiratory illnesses are on the rise
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/l-a-county-respiratory-illnesses-are-on-the-rise/
- Published: 2008-01-30T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:14:08.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Los Angeles County is seeing an increase in the number of respiratory illness cases, and public health officials are urging residents to practice healthy habits and get vaccinated against the flu if they haven’t already done so.

“The number of respiratory illnesses is higher than average for this time of year. However, most of these are not influenza,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, public health director.

“Most respiratory illnesses, including many flu-like illnesses, are not influenza; however they can have flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, coughing, sore throat, sniffling, aches and other symptoms,” Fielding said. “Symptoms such as these can usually be taken care of while resting at home and drinking plenty of liquids.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 30, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/013008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)