After a record week of flu activity within the US, hospitalizations and deaths proceed to rise.
About 40,000 folks have been admitted to the hospital with flu throughout the week ending January 3, in response to data printed Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 10% greater than the 36,600 hospitalizations within the week earlier than. Overall, there have been about 12 flu hospitalizations for each 100,000 folks within the US final week, CDC information exhibits.
Seniors are most certainly to be hospitalized with flu, however charges amongst kids are additionally excessive. At least 17 kids have died from the flu this season, the CDC says – a quantity that almost doubled over the previous week, with eight new deaths reported.
Four of the pediatric flu deaths this season have been in Massachusetts, together with two kids in Boston who have been beneath the age of two.
“Flu cases are surging in Boston, and we are seeing an uptick in serious cases involving children, including the tragic deaths of two very young children,” Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the town’s commissioner of public well being, mentioned in a press release.
“While the flu is usually mild, it can cause hospitalization and death. Children under the age of two are at higher risk. Parents should get their children ages six months and older vaccinated as soon as possible to decrease the risk of severe complications. Parents should seek immediate medical attention if their child has flu symptoms and also has signs of more severe illness, like trouble breathing, decreased urination, persistently high fever or becomes extremely lethargic and difficult to arouse.”
Overall, the CDC estimates that there have been at the least 15 million diseases, 180,000 hospitalizations and seven,400 deaths from flu this season.
Flu activity “remains elevated across the country,” and the CDC says it expects that to proceed for a number of extra weeks. More than a dozen states have flu activity ranges within the highest class that the company tracks.
CDC surveillance information printed final week confirmed that flu-like activity within the US had reached the best degree on file for the reason that company began monitoring about 30 years in the past.
This week, a few of these indicators have fallen, however the CDC says that does not essentially imply the season has reached its peak. Instead, the downtick “could be due to changes in healthcare seeking or reporting during the holidays,” and extra will increase might come within the weeks forward.
Influenza A(H3N2) viruses are essentially the most generally reported, and extra genetic testing suggests {that a} new variant — known as subclade Ok — that prompted early and busy flu seasons in different a part of the world continues to be driving the overwhelming majority of circumstances within the US.
Vaccination “has been shown to reduce the risk of flu and its potentially serious complications,” the CDC says. But solely about 130 million doses of vaccine have been distributed nationwide this season, sufficient to cowl lower than 40% of the US inhabitants.
Earlier this week, the US Department of Health and Human Services overhauled the childhood vaccine schedule, together with an up to date advice that choices on vaccinations in opposition to flu be based mostly on “shared clinical decision-making,” which implies individuals who need one should seek the advice of with a well being care supplier.
Many state well being departments have damaged with these up to date suggestions, as an alternative supporting suggestions from skilled medical associations — such because the American Academy of Pediatrics — that proceed to broadly assist flu vaccination for everybody 6 months and older.