At the start of the season, the string of states between Texas and Georgia experienced the most severe flu activity. But now northern and western states are being hit just as hard.
Pennsylvania, for example, saw a 56 percent increase in flu activity during the stretch between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Overall, there have been at least 6.4 million flu illnesses, 55,000 hospitalizations, and 2,900 flu-related deaths, according to the CDC’s latest flu report.
There have also been 27 reported pediatric deaths — the majority of which were linked back to influenza B viruses.
“Since mid-December, influenza activity has really ramped up,” said Marie-Louise Landry, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious disease expert and the director of the Yale Clinical Virology Laboratory. “All four influenza strains are circulating, but so far A/H1 and B/Victoria have been more common.”
The flu vaccine is never perfect — flu strains mutate and change each and every year, so it’s impossible for the vaccine to successfully target every flu variation.
Experts are also seeing more influenza B/Victoria cases than we typically do — a strain that’s not comprehensively covered by this year’s vaccine.
“While early in the season, all the circulating strains of influenza A/pdmH1 and influenza B/Yamagata tested so far have been similar to the strains in the vaccine, but 58 percent of influenza B/Victoria strains and only 34 percent of influenza A/H3 tested matched the vaccine strains,” Dr. Landry told Healthline.
Health officials are still working on those estimates, too, so they’ll likely change a bit as the season progresses.
“Ideally, this number should be as high as possible, but often with influenza the virus may genetically drift away from an exact match with the virus,” said Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
Because the vaccine seemed to miss the mark a bit with the most predominant strain (B/Victoria), the United States might see more people continue to come down with this type of flu.
That said, even if you do contract one of these strains, the vaccine will reduce the length and severity of your symptoms.
All four strains (A, B, C, and D) are currently circulating, but different strains seem to be striking more in various parts of the country.
In general, B and A strains cause a similar illness: fatigue, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills, and fever.
A study from 2014 found that adults with influenza A or B had the same length hospital stays and comparable rates of death and intensive care admission.
However, B/Victoria — the predominant strain we’re seeing in the U.S. — is thought to cause a more severe illness in children. In fact, a 2016 study found that influenza B was more likely to cause death in children ages 16 and younger.
“On a national level, influenza B is outnumbering influenza A which is unusual, but the predominant virus may vary with the region of the country, the age of the patient, and whether the person was sick enough to be admitted to a hospital,” Landry said.
B strains are dominating in Southern states, including Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. The region between Virginia and Pennsylvania is also seeing more illnesses linked back to B strains.
But other areas — such as the Carolinas and the Northeast — are seeing more of the A strain.
Certain Midwestern states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, are reporting more A strain cases as well.
According to Dr. Adalja, the worst of the flu season may still be on the way.
“I expect that flu will continue to rise in activity as we have not reached a peak yet,” Adalja said, adding that he suspects flu season will peak earlier than usual this year given the accelerated rate seen so far.
Flu season typically peaks in February, but health officials say it’ll likely peak sometime between December and February. (There’s a 40 percent chance it’s already peaked, and a 30 percent chance it’ll peak in January.)
People who haven’t yet been vaccinated should make it a priority to do so now.
“It’s not too late to get vaccinated as we have many more weeks of flu season left to go. Flu vaccination is always the best way to prevent flu and its potentially serious complications,” the CDC emailed in a statement, noting that a vaccination location can be found at www.vaccinefinder.org.
As expected, flu activity picked up over the holidays. There have now been at least 6.4 million flu illnesses, 55,000 hospitalizations, and 2,900 flu-related deaths, the CDC announced Friday.
B/Victoria is the most predominant flu strain across the country, which is unusual for this time of year, but different regions are seeing different strains.
It’s still not too late to get the flu shot, which remains the best line of defense.
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.
