NCS
By Deidre McPhillips, NCS
(NCS) — Most US states are experiencing excessive or very excessive flu activity, and ranges proceed to extend nationwide.
“Flu season is just getting started, so I think it’s really hard to say exactly what it’s going to look like,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, informed NCS on Tuesday. “What we’re seeing right now is a very rapid escalation of cases.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there have been at the very least 7,500,000 diseases, 81,000 hospitalizations and three,100 deaths from flu this season, in keeping with an update revealed Tuesday with information by December 20. At least eight youngsters have died from flu this season.
Among the states with the highest ranges of flu activity are Colorado, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina, in keeping with the CDC.
Trends are increasing across key surveillance metrics: Laboratory testing, outpatient well being care visits, hospitalizations and mortality are all greater than they had been in the earlier weekly replace from the CDC.
One surveillance system exhibits that flu hospitalizations have doubled; greater than 19,000 individuals had been admitted to the hospital with flu throughout the most up-to-date week, up from about 9,900 the week earlier than.
The CDC says that “severity indicators remain low at this time, but influenza activity is expected to continue for several weeks.”
Staying forward of ‘super flu’
Influenza A(H3N2) viruses are the mostly reported, and extra genetic testing suggests {that a} new flu variant — known as subclade Okay — seems to be behind the overwhelming majority of instances in the US. After driving excessive case numbers in different elements of the world, subclade Okay obtained the nickname “super flu.”
“This is a strain that’s different than what we’ve seen in previous years,” Osterholm mentioned. He wouldn’t name it a “super strain,” he mentioned, however “I would say it surely does challenge our previous immunity, in terms of protecting us.”
This new variant wasn’t included on this yr’s flu pictures as a result of it was recognized after scientists had chosen the strains to incorporate, however the vaccines include associated strains, and globally, they appear to be working fairly properly in opposition to the variant.
The CDC recommends that everybody age 6 months and older get a flu vaccine every season, however vaccination charges have been lowering lately. Only about 130 million flu vaccines have been distributed this season, CDC information exhibits, 13 million fewer doses than at this level final yr. Additional information means that solely about 17% of kids and 23% of adults had gotten their seasonal flu vaccine by the finish of November.
Osterholm encourages individuals who haven’t been vaccinated in opposition to flu to behave rapidly as the virus is “wiping through” the nation.
“It’s not too late to get your flu shot,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t guarantee you won’t get flu. It doesn’t guarantee that you still won’t get sick, but it surely is a big improvement on what the otherwise outcome could be, of either being seriously ill or dying.”
The-NCS-Wire
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