This is one of the worst flu seasons on record for Quebec

If it seems like everyone and their kid is sick in Quebec right now, they just might be. 

The province's public health institute has recorded a spike in influenza cases unrivalled since the 2014-15 season, with 4,600 cases reported in the past week. 

"This year, it's really something that we haven't seen in the past eight, nine or 10 years. It's a real high," said Dr. Guillaume Lacombe of the Quebec association for emergency doctors. 

From December to February, cases of both influenza A and B rose 30 per cent, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

During last year's flu season in Quebec, the highest number of cases reported in a week rose to 2,400 — nearly half of last week's numbers. 

But the INSPQ says it's too early to say whether this year is truly the worst flu season on record in Quebec. Influenza cases typically fall in February, according to Lacombe, who says the season appears to be peaking a little later this year. 

"We're seeing record numbers of people coming into the ER in the last few days," he said. Two thousand ER visits were recorded Monday in Quebec. Symptoms of the flu include a fever, cough, muscular aches and pains, as well as fatigue and headaches. 

The INSPQ estimates between three and seven per cent of adults are infected with the virus every year. 

Dr. Judith Fafard of the INSPQ says the post-pandemic spike in flu cases has so far not been caused by any particularly contagious strain of influenza. 

"The strain that is circulating right now, we don't have any signal that it's a special strain, something that is more transmissible," Fafard said.