Flu case are surging this winter — this time of year is no put-on . New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that this flu season is one of the hardest - hitting picture in more than a decade .
The CDCreleasedits latest surveillance report on the seasonal flu Friday , which overlay flu action through the week of February 1 . Nearly 8 % of visit that people made to their MD that week were tie to flu - comparable illness — the high patsy check since the 2009 to 2010 influenza season , the APreported . Flu natural action also remains gamy in most parts of the state .
The seasonal flu has long been a thorn in our collective side . The flu isestimatedto have hospitalized between 140,000 and 710,000 Americans every wintertime during the 2010s , in summation to kill between 12,000 and 52,000 people . During the early years of the covid-19 pandemic , the flu and many other communicable diseases did become much less vulgar ( at least partly due to social distancing practice mean to decelerate down covid-19 ) . But more recently , as citizenry have returned to their normal societal lives , these diseases have return with a vengeance .
This winter’s flu season has sickened 24 million Americans and sent over 300,000 people to the hospital so far, the CDC estimates.© Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty
This winter ’s flu season is a bite unusual than most , however . For starters , there now seem to have been two major peaks of illness : One from late December to other January , and another spike in late weeks .
While the great unwashed ’s flu - like symptoms can be due to other diseases , include covid-19 , this wintertime has been themildest see yetfor the coronavirus . Other seasonal germ like respiratory syncytial virus are on the downswing as well , further indicate that flu is drive these visit to the MD for respiratory symptom decently now . The weekly hospitalisation pace for grippe seen through 2025 so far is also the highest reported since the peak of the 2017 - 2018 time of year , allot to CDC data , which was itself an peculiarly bad wintertime for flu .
A Universal Flu Vaccine Is Getting Closer to Reality
All told , the CDC estimate that the seasonal flu this winter has sickened over 24 million Americans , hospitalized 310,000 people , and killed at least 13,000 , let in 57 kid . Flu bodily process is currently high or very high in all but seven state , including New York , Texas , and California . Though the raw numbers still are n’t the worst ascertain lately ( 470,000 people were hospitalized last year , for example ) , the continued gamey spread of the grippe could certainly get us there by the end of the time of year .
One atomic number 47 lining to this time of year is that we ’re still mostly dealing with grippe viruses that are familiar to us . Most cases of influenza have been due to two bed character of influenza A called H1N1 and H3N2 , while a smaller percentage have been due to the lineage of flu bacillus virus call Victoria . Last calendar month , wellness officials in Iowa describe a single case of grippe tied to a variant strain of influenza A ( H1N2 ) to the CDC , meaning a strain of flu usually find in grunter . Though the person was hospitalize , they havesince recovered and no further subject were identified . There have also been more than 60 case of human H5N1 recorded since 2024 , a case of Bronx cheer flu that has been disperse widely in birds and , more recently , in dairy cows . These casing have mostly been tied to touch with septic animal , and no evidence of human - to - human infection of H5N1 has emerged yet .
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While it ’s still too former to eff incisively how effective this wintertime ’s seasonal flu vaccinum has been , vaccination stay on one of the best mode to lower your chances of catching influenza or to reduce your chances of serious sickness if you do catch it . And give that the seasonal flu can bewilder around until May , it ’s certainly not too late to get your shot if you have n’t already — and plenteousness of the great unwashed still have n’t . harmonize to the CDC , only an estimated 45 % of Americans havegottentheir flu vaccine this wintertime .
infectious diseasesInfluenzavaccines
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