The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu activity is already high in seven states and flu-like illness now accounts for more than 3% of doctor visits.
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The U.S. flu season is starting earlier than usual and is intensifying, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest update.
In the week covered by the CDC report, seven states were reporting high flu activity, up from two states the week before.
The CDC also reported that more than 3% of doctors’ office visits last week were for flu-like illness, indicating that flu season is underway.
Louisiana is seeing the most severe early activity so far, with infectious diseases specialist Dr. Fred Lopez of the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans saying flu season “is taking off” in a direction that is “only likely to increase in the next month or two.”
Dr. Lopez said people who have not been vaccinated should get vaccinated now.
The early-season level is higher than what is typically seen at this point in the year, though the CDC update said it isn’t clear whether this will translate into a worse-than-usual season.
The flu hospitalization rate in mid-October was the highest recorded that early in autumn in more than 15 years, according to Dr. Anna Durbin of Johns Hopkins University.
The CDC estimates that, so far this season, flu infections are linked to at least 2.6 million illnesses, 36,000 hospitalizations and 2,100 deaths.
The surge began in the country’s South and West, and states reporting high flu activity so far include California, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Dr. Lopez said Louisiana often sees early surges, in part due to lower vaccination rates, higher poverty rates, and challenges accessing healthcare.
Health officials expect spread of flu and other respiratory viruses to accelerate as people travel and gather later this month for Thanksgiving, and Dr. Nicole Iovine of a University of Florida-affiliated infectious disease programme said, in an emailed statement this week, that getting vaccinated is especially important ahead of holiday gatherings.
People should not get vaccinated if they are currently experiencing significant symptoms, because the immune system is otherwise occupied, Lopez said.
He also said people can still get a flu shot even if they had a flu infection earlier in the fall, noting the vaccine protects against three kinds of flu virus and that more than one strain can circulate each season.
This fall’s illnesses are largely attributed to a version of an A H1N1 flu virus with mutations that may more easily evade immune defences.
Johns Hopkins immunology expert Andrew Pekosz said data so far suggests the current vaccine “can recognize” the circulating virus and work against it, but health officials will not know for months how effective the vaccine is.
Last winter’s flu season surged in late December and ended in late March, with the CDC estimating at least 32 million illnesses, 380,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths for that season.
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