Forty percent of the 109 cases of influenza reported in St. Lawrence County are in the Massena area, according to the county Public Health Department's Prevent Services Supervisor Laurie Maki.

More are concentrated in the Ogdensburg area, Maki said.

As of this week, Maki reports, 107 cases of Type A flu have been reported, along with one case of Type B and one untyped case.

That is far below the number of cases reported by early January 2013 – 183 – when she said the rate had “far exceeded” the number of cases by early January 2012.

“The peak is usually at the end of January or early February,” Maki said.

The first case reported this flu season, a five-year-old in Ogdensburg area, came to light in early December. By that time in 2012, 20 cases in the county had been confirmed by blood tests.

In hopes of keeping the number of incidents low, the county Public Health Department is urging people to take the usual precautions, including vaccinations.

Maki is urging people to get a flu shot if they haven't already.

The recipe for staying well yourself and helping to stem the spread of the viral disease is to “cover coughs, don’t go out in public if you are sick, wash your hands and get the flu shot if you haven’t already,” Maki said.