The flu continues to hit the region hard. State Department of Health officials say they are concerned with the growing number of confirmed cases, especially in Allegheny County. Lab confirmed cases jumped 53 percent in the seven county Pittsburgh region which includes Washington County. Allegheny County continues to lead the state with more than three-thousand cases and a 51-percent increase in one week. They account for 27 percent of all state cases. As a whole, the western Pennsylvania region accounts for about half of the state’s more-than eleven thousand cases. The State total increased 61 percent in one week.