Browse through your local pharmacy cold and flu remedy aisle, and you are likely to bump into customers reading the labels on cough suppressants, cough expectorants and nighttime cold medicines.

It’s officially flu season, and if you’ve dodged it so far, consider yourself lucky. This year’s flu is particularly nasty, thanks to a mutated strain of the virus.

The Harrisburg region seems to be holding back on a full-blown outbreak, but it is likely coming. Physicians and hospitals are beginning to see increases in the number of sick people and ER visits that could be the calm before the storm.

“Have we been seeing a rise in uptick over the last several weeks? We have,” said Dr. Peter Kang, associate medical director, Pennsylvania, UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care. “But in terms of absolute abunda

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