The Allegheny County Health Department has obtained about 2,000 vaccine doses and will reopen its flu immunization clinic today.

The Health Department closed the clinic last month after public demand exhausted the supply of flu shots. The new doses were collected by the Health Department from providers in Pennsylvania and nearby states who didn't use their full allotment.

Demand for shots at the reopened clinic likely won't be as great as it was in December, said spokesman Guillermo Cole, who noted that clinics operated this past weekend by the Visiting Nurse Foundation saw a reduced turnout.

"We're not expecting a stampede," he said. "These will be offered to the public on a walk-in basis."

Allegheny County has seen a record number of flu cases this year, with the total rising yesterday to 605.

The 14 new cases reported yesterday was the lowest single-day increase in at least three weeks, but it's too soon to say the flu season has peaked, Cole said.

The state Department of Health doesn't report flu numbers, but spokesman Richard McGarvey said: "We haven't heard from hospitals or doctors that it's slackening any."

Only a fraction of all flu cases are confirmed by lab tests, so the Health Department's numbers are always an estimate of the flu virus' impact in a given year. For every confirmed case, hundreds of others may go unreported.

The number of reported cases might be higher this year for two reasons, Cole suggested.

First, it's been a bad season, he said. But testing for the virus has also been more comprehensive, said Cole, pointing to the availability of tests that can quickly confirm a case in a doctor's office. Those tests have been available for five years, Cole said, but it's likely that more doctors have been using them this flu season because of publicity about serious illnesses among children in some states.

Fully two-thirds of the 605 cases reported to the county Health Department have come from doctors administering the rapid detection test, Cole said. Back in the 1999-2000 flu season, rapid test results accounted for only about 40 percent of flu reports to the county. The majority that year came from the traditional laboratory system, which is still in place and reports results based on throat cultures.

Protection from a vaccine administered today won't kick in for another two weeks or so. But Cole said vaccination could still provide important protection, since some flu seasons last into April.

"We expect to see the peak at some time this month, but that doesn't mean it goes away immediately," he said.

It's still not clear, however, how much protection this year's vaccine is providing. A new viral strain that has sickened patients in other states -- Type A/Fujian -- is not targeted by the vaccine. But the vaccine does target a strain that is similar to the Fujian subtype and thus might provide some protection.

Health officials still don't know if the Fujian subtype is present locally, but most of the confirmed cases have been Type A.

Flu shots cost $16 at the Health Department, although they are a covered benefit for people with Medicare Part B, who aren't in an HMO.

The flu clinic's hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 1 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. There are no appointments. The walk-in clinic is located at 3441 Forbes Ave. in Oakland.