Influenza is still going strong in the United States and isn’t expected to slow down for at least several more weeks, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What’s more, this season’s vaccine is only a 58% match for B/Victoria, the strain that is hitting children especially hard.
“It’s not a very good match for B/Victoria,” Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. “It’s not an awful match, but it’s not a very good match.”
Nationally, the predominant virus is B/Victoria, followed by A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses, with the predominant virus varying by region and age group. A(H3N2) and B/Yamagata viruses are circulating in low numbers.
“Key indicators that track flu activity remain high, but indicators that track severity are not high at this point in the season,” the CDC explains in the report.
Although levels of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) remain elevated, hospitalization rates and the percentage of deaths resulting from pneumonia and influenza remain low.
“This is likely due to the predominance of influenza B/Victoria and influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses which are more likely to affect children and younger adults than the elderly. Because the majority of hospitalizations and deaths occur among people age 65 and older, with fewer illnesses among that group, we expect, on a population level, to see less impact in flu-related hospitalizations and deaths,” the CDC explains.
Outpatient visits for ILI activity fell from 7% the previous week to 5.8%. “The decrease in the percentage of patient visits for ILI may be influenced in part by changes in healthcare seeking behavior and influenza virus transmission that can occur during the holidays,” the CDC notes in its report.
Regionally, the percentage of outpatient visits for influenza ranged from 3.6% to 8.6%, with all regions reporting a percentage of outpatient visits for influenza that were equal to or higher than their region-specific baselines.
The percentage of respiratory specimens that tested positive for influenza in clinical laboratories fell to 23.6% from 26.4% during the last week of 2019.
ILI activity was high in the District of Columbia, New York City, Puerto Rico, and 33 states; moderate in six states (Alaska, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and South Dakota); and low in eight states (Florida, Hawaii, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Vermont, and Wyoming).
Activity was minimal in New Hampshire and there were insufficient data to calculate ILI activity for Delaware, Idaho, and the US Virgin Islands.
Geographically, influenza activity was widespread in Puerto Rico and 46 states, regional in three states (Mississippi, North Dakota, and Vermont), local in the District of Columbia and Hawaii, and sporadic in the US Virgin Islands. Guam did not report.
Hospitalizations and Deaths
According to the CDC’s estimates, there have been at least 9.7 million illnesses, 87,000 hospitalizations, and 4800 deaths from influenza this season.
Between October 1, 2019, and January 4, 2020, 4228 laboratory-confirmed hospitalizations were reported. Of those, 2299 (54.4%) were linked to influenza A virus, 1906 (45.1%) to influenza B virus, 13 (0.3%) to influenza A virus and influenza B virus coinfection, and 10 (0.2%) to influenza virus, which had not been typed.
Among patients for whom influenza A subtype information was available, 461 (86.0%) were A(H1N1)pdm09 virus and 75 (14.0%) were A(H3N2) virus.
The overall cumulative hospitalization rate was 14.6 per 100,000 population. The rate was highest for those aged 65 years or older (33.3%), followed by children younger than 5 years (26.8) and those aged 50 to 64 years (17.0).
The percentage of deaths from pneumonia and influenza edged up to 5.8% (epidemic threshold 6.9%), from 5.5% during week 52 of 2019.
During week 1 of this year, the CDC received reports of five influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the weeks ending December 28, 2019, and January 4, 2020. Three of those were linked to influenza B viruses for which lineage was not determined, and two were related to influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses.
So far, the CDC has received reports of 32 influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred this season, compared with 16 at this point last season. Of those, 21 deaths were related to influenza B viruses, five of which had lineage determined and were all B/Victoria viruses. Eleven deaths were linked to influenza A viruses, six of which underwent subtyping and were all A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses.
Influenza B viruses can cause severe illness in adults and children; however, adults often have built-up immunity from previous infections, whereas children may not have.
Both influenza A viruses and influenza B viruses can cause serious illness in adults and children; therefore, the CDC recommends vaccination for everyone aged 6 years or older and antiviral medications as soon as possible after illness onset.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.
Bizarre Sunlight Loophole Melts Belly Fat Fast! is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.
