ACHOO! L.A. GETS FLU; POSSIBLY 2 STRAINS HIT SOUTHLAND HARD.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

What could be the worst local flu outbreak in 15 years continues to fill Los Angeles-area hospitals and starve blood banks by cutting off donations.

The sudden flood of illness has, so far, hit Southern California worse than the rest of the country, state health officials said Monday, and might be the work of two separate strains of influenza, only one of which is blocked by the flu vaccine distributed earlier in the season.

Although health officials haven't confirmed the presence of the other strain - an import from Australia now popping up in America and Europe - they say it could explain why so many people in such an international city as Los Angeles have suddenly fallen ill.

``There's no reason to believe we're isolated from any influenza strain,'' said Shirley Fannin, director of Los Angeles County's disease control programs. The airborne bug can easily be transmitted, she said, by travelers hopping between cities or countries.

``Five hundred people flying across the Pacific, breathing each other's air, is a wonderful incubation environment,'' Fannin said.

Neither strain suspected of ruining Angelenos' holidays is the mysterious ``bird flu'' that appeared last year in Hong Kong and recently led Chinese authorities to exterminate the city's chickens.

Although the round of flu in Los Angeles has done little more than cause head-pounding, throat-trashing misery for most victims, it has provoked a potentially dangerous crisis for the American Red Cross. The organization announced Monday that local blood supplies had plummeted, with just 9 percent of the needed amount of type O-positive in stock.

The drop, Red Cross officials said, was due to the holiday season, which typically cuts donations in half, and the flu, which keeps potential donors at home. Even those who might show up wouldn't be allowed to give blood, since donors must be in good health.

``They don't come in - they know better,'' said Marc Jackson, public affairs director for the local branch of the American Red Cross Blood Service. ``There's a shortage here, and if something doesn't happen soon, surgeries are going to have to be delayed.''

Outside of the blood banks, those bearing the outbreak's brunt tended to be the young and the elderly.

The flu struck Agnes and Tad Masumoto, both 77, of Glendale so badly that their son, Randy, performed acupuncture on them over the weekend to try to relieve the pain.

``I'll take anything,'' said Agnes Masumoto, with herbal pills, vitamin C and cough medicine by her side.

Already on dialysis for his kidney problems, what little energy Tad Masumoto had was zapped by this year's flu, his wife said.

``We haven't eaten much. It's nauseating with a runny nose, a heavy head and a lot of coughing,'' she said.

Even worse, Tad Masumoto had a flu shot last month - as he has for years, she said. In the past, the shots have helped, but this time, it seems to have made no difference, she said.

``This is the worst one he's gotten,'' she said. ``I've never seen him so down. . . . His walking is worse, too.''

Local hospitals, so overrun in recent weeks that they have asked ambulances to divert patients to less-crowded facilities, remained busy Monday.

By noon, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles already had seen 10 to 12 new cases, and the day was still young, said nurse in charge John Hulse.

``Today's sort of Vomiting and Diarrhea Day,'' he said.

Teri Sullivan, nursing supervisor at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, said her hospital had seen a jump in the number of adult and pediatric flu cases. Some of the victims have been sick enough to be admitted to the hospital rather than sent home to recuperate, she said.

``There's been a definite increase, particularly in the emergency departments,'' Sullivan said.

With many of the Los Angeles Unified School District's campuses back in session Monday` after a holiday break, some schools reported absences and sick students, although none in great numbers. District nursing supervisor Virginia Hayes said many of those absent could be stragglers snatching an extra day of break.

``It could be they're still in Mexico for the holidays, or the family took an extra day of vacation,'' she said.

Some administrators said their schools were hit worst right before the holidays. At Canoga Park elementary school, about 50 of 1,400 students were absent Monday. But in the last week before break, school nurse Claire Goodman said, the situation was far worse.

``It was horrible,'' Goodman said. ``We were all sick, and we were up to our ears in sick children. . . . I was deathly ill.''

On Monday, she only had to send home one student she suspected of having the flu. ``I'm trying to exclude them as soon as I see flu symptoms,'' Goodman said.

What the doctor ordered

If hit by the flu, you probably don't have much choice other than taking care of yourself and toughing it out. If you are otherwise healthy, a visit to the hospital might not be needed.

Doctors recommend bed rest, plenty of liquids and staying away from work, school or any place where you might spread the disease to others.

Two words of warning: The flu can pose more serious problems for people with lung disease, diabetes or problems of the immune system. If you suffer from any of those ailments and catch the flu, contact your physician.

Also, if your children or teen-agers have the flu, don't give them aspirin.

Daily News Staff Writers Lisa Van Proyen and Jennifer Knight contributed to this story.

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Box: What the doctor ordered (see text)