Breaking News: Flu season continues, as influenza activity continues to decrease in the United States, but remains elevated. (see below)
While flu season typically peaks in February, it is very important to understand that there are few things that are typical about the flu.
Since 1982, while we have been twice as likely to see a flu activity peak in February than other winter months, we have been just as likely to get that peak in December, January, or March. That makes it important to get your flu vaccine as soon as you can.
You really never know if it is going to be an early, average, or late flu season. That’s why it is best to not try and time your flu vaccine and to just get it as soon as you can.
Flu Season Facts
There will likely be some surprises this flu season – there always are – but there are some things that you can unfortunately count on.
Among these flu facts include that:
- there have been over 1,660 pediatric flu deaths since the 2003-04 flu season, including 185 flu deaths last year
- of the average 118 kids that die of the flu each year – most of them unvaccinated
- antiviral flu medicines, such as Tamiflu, while recommended to treat high-risk people, including kids under 2 to 5 years of age, have very modest benefits at best (they don’t do all that much, are expensive, don’t taste good, and can have side effects, etc.)
- a flu vaccine is the best way to decrease your child’s chances of getting the flu
- FluMist, the nasal spray flu vaccine, is once again available for healthy kids who are at least 2-years-old
You can also count on the fact that even in a mild flu season, a lot of kids get sick with the flu.
What about reports that the flu shot won’t be effective?
Don’t believe them. The flu vaccine works and besides, it has many benefits beyond keeping you from getting the flu
This Year’s Flu Season
As of mid-April, the CDC reports that flu “influenza activity continues to decrease in the United States, but remains elevated.”
The CDC has also recently reported that:
- 11 states, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Virginia, are still reporting widespread flu activity
- 20 states, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, are still reporting regional flu activity
- 17 states, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming, are now reporting local flu activity
- 2 states, Indiana and Texas, are now reporting sporadic flu activity
- no states are reporting no flu activity yet
- the proportion of people seeing their health care provider for influenza-like illness (ILI) was down 2.4%, which is still above the national baseline of 2.2%, but far below the 7.5% we saw last year
- The overall hospitalization rate was 62.3 per 100,000. The highest rate of hospitalization was among adults aged ≥65 (206.5 per 100,000 population), followed by adults aged 50-64 (77.8 per 100,000 population) and children aged 0-4 (71.0 per 100,000 population).
- there have already been 91 pediatric flu deaths this year, including 5 new deaths this past week
While influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses predominated from October to mid-February, influenza A(H3N2) viruses have been more commonly identified since late February.
Some good news?
The “majority of influenza viruses characterized antigenically and genetically are similar to the cell-grown reference viruses representing the 2018–2019 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccine viruses..”
And the interim estimates of flu season effectiveness are fairly good, with an overall vaccine effectiveness of 61% in children and teens.
Are you going to get your kids a flu vaccine this year?
“CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine as soon as possible.”
CDC Influenza Situation Update
Although flu season has started, it is definitely not too late to get a flu vaccine.
For More Information on the 2018-19 Flu Season
- VAXOPEDIA – Is This Year’s Flu Vaccine Working?
- VAXOPEDIA – Flu Season Predictions
- VAXOPEDIA – Understanding Flu Season
- VAXOPEDIA – How Long Does It Take for the Flu Vaccine to Start Working
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Do You Need to Get a Flu Vaccine Each Year?
- VAXOPEDIA – What Makes the Flu So Deadly?
- VAXOPEDIA – I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in Flu Shots
- VAXOPEDIA – Can Flu Shots Cause the Flu?
- VAXOPEDIA – Are Your Kids at High Risk for Flu Complications?
- VAXOPEDIA – How Long Does It Take for the Flu Vaccine to Start Working
- VAXOPEDIA – Three Reasons to Skip a Flu Shot This Year
- VAXOPEDIA – Do They Really Just Guess at Which Strain to Put in the Flu Vaccine?
- MMWR – Prevention and Control of Seasonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices—United States, 2018–19 Influenza Season
- CDC – Frequently Asked Flu Questions 2017-2018 Influenza Season
- CDC – Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report
- CDC – Situation Update: Summary of Weekly FluView Report
- CDC – Update: Influenza Activity — United States, October 2, 2016–February 4, 2017
- CDC – Interim Estimates of 2016–17 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness — United States, February 2017
- CDC – Past Weekly Surveillance Reports (1999-2016)
- CDC – Frequently Asked Flu Questions 2016-2017 Influenza Season
- Flu Near You
- WHO – Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System
- Flu News Europe
- FluWatch Canada
- UK Weekly national flu reports
- WHO – Recommended composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the 2017-2018 northern hemisphere influenza season
Updated February 25, 2019
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