The state and local health officials of the Southeast has been urging people to get vaccinated as there is a suspected resurgence of swine flu in some of its parts. States including Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina are reporting regional outbreaks of the virus, while flu activity remains low in North Carolina.

Sue Ellen Morrison, disease control specialist at the Buncombe County Department of Health said, “It's still out there and they are still urging us to provide vaccine. We are not sure if this is the third wave we've heard of, but an increase can happen quickly in a pandemic, and we don't want people to dismiss it too quickly”.

Throughout the year, the South has witnessed more flu than the rest of the country and it has the lowest swine flu vaccination rates in the country.

According to Rachel Long, public health epidemiologist at Mission Hospital in the month of October, number of flu cases in North Carolina was at its zenith, though they dropped a little in winters. One death was attributed to the H1N1 flu in Buncombe County in December.

Long shared that at least two people have tested positive for flu this week at the five hospitals in the region. She also added that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups advocate flu vaccine for all health care workers.