Flu cases in America: Flu infections are spreading rapidly across the country as Americans return from holiday travel and gatherings, with case numbers rising more quickly than in recent years, federal health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the current flu season has produced at least 7.5 million illnesses, 81,000 hospital admissions and 3,100 deaths. Public health officials expect those figures to continue climbing.
Low vaccination rates, holiday gatherings and widespread misinformation are driving the surge, according to public health experts.
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The CDC analysed 275 virus samples collected since late September and found nearly 90 per cent belonged to subclade K, a variant of the influenza A(H3N2) virus.
Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said a major concern this flu season is the speed at which cases multiply once the virus reaches a particular state or region.
Laboratory data and genetic analysis indicate the virus carries mutations that may help it evade immunity built up in the population, he said.
Hospital admissions for influenza patients topped 19,000 during the week ending December 20, roughly double the previous week’s count, CDC data showed.
Health officials reported five flu-related deaths among children last week, bringing this season’s pediatric death toll to eight.
Daniel Kuritzkes, a senior infectious disease physician at Mass General Brigham, said this could become a larger flu season than those of the past several years, though evidence so far does not suggest individual cases are more severe.
The CDC said flu activity should persist for several more weeks, even as severity measures remain low. The agency is urging everyone six months and older who has not received a flu shot to get vaccinated.
Health experts said people should get vaccinated even though the vaccine does not perfectly match circulating virus strains. The shot will still produce antibodies that recognise the new variant and protect against severe illness.
Eric Ascher, a family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, said the flu virus has mutated slightly, creating an imperfect match with the vaccine.
Roughly 130 million flu vaccine doses have been distributed nationwide this season, the CDC reported.
Cameron Wolfe, a professor at Duke University, said holiday gatherings will likely increase transmission, and cases have not yet begun to slow down.