Flu Cases Are Surging—Here’s Why This Season Is So Unusual – Gizmodo

Flu cases are surging this winter—this season is no joke. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that this flu season is one of the hardest-hitting seen in more than a decade.The CDC released its latest surveillance report on the seasonal flu Friday, which covers flu activity through the week of February 1. Nearly 8% of visits that people made to their doctor that week were tied to flu-like illness—the highest mark seen since the 2009 to 2010 flu season, the AP reported. Flu activity also remains high in most parts of the country.The seasonal flu has long been a thorn in our collective side. The flu is estimated to have hospitalized between 140,000 and 710,000 Americans every winter during the 2010s, in addition to killing between 12,000 and 52,000 people. During the early years of the covid-19 pandemic, the flu and many other communicable diseases did become much less common (at least partly due to social distancing practices intended to slow down covid-19). But more recently, as people have returned to their normal social lives, these diseases have returned with a vengeance.This winter’s flu season is a bit stranger than most, however. For starters, there now appear to have been two major peaks of illness: One from late December to early January, and another spike in recent weeks.While people’s flu-like symptoms can be caused by other diseases, including covid-19, this winter has been the mildest seen yet for the coronavirus. Other seasonal germs like respiratory syncytial virus are on the downswing as well, further indicating that influenza is driving these visits to the doctor for respiratory symptoms right now. The weekly hospitalization rate for flu seen through 2025 so far is also the highest reported since the peak of the 2017-2018 season, according to CDC data, which was itself an especially bad winter for flu.A Universal Flu Vaccine Is Getting Closer to RealityAll told, the CDC estimates that the seasonal flu this winter has sickened over 24 million Americans, hospitalized 310,000 people, and killed at least 13,000, including 57 children. Flu activity is currently high or very high in all but seven states, including New York, Texas, and California. Though the raw numbers still aren’t the worst seen lately (470,000 people were hospitalized last year, for example), the continued high spread of the flu could certainly get us there by the end of the season.One silver lining to this season is that we’re still mostly dealing with flu viruses that are familiar to us. Most cases of flu have been caused by two known types of influenza A called H1N1 and H3N2, while a smaller percentage have been caused by the lineage of influenza B virus called Victoria. Last month, health officials in Iowa reported a single case of flu tied to a variant strain of influenza A (H1N2) to the CDC, meaning a strain of flu normally found in pigs. Though the person was hospitalized, they have since recovered and no further cases were identified. There have also been more than 60 cases of human H5N1 recorded since 2024, a type of bird flu that has been circulating widely in birds and, more recently, in dairy cows. These cases have mostly been tied to contact with infected animals, and no evidence of human-to-human transmission of H5N1 has emerged yet.CDC Abruptly Yanks Report Linking Cats to Bird Flu SpreadWhile it’s still too early to know exactly how effective this winter’s seasonal flu vaccine has been, vaccination remains one of the best ways to lower your chances of catching flu or to reduce your chances of serious illness if you do catch it. And given that the seasonal flu can stick around until May, it’s certainly not too late to get your shot if you haven’t already—and plenty of people still haven’t. According to the CDC, only an estimated 45% of Americans have gotten their flu vaccine this winter.
infectious diseasesInfluenzavaccines
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Source: https://gizmodo.com/flu-cases-are-surging-heres-why-this-season-is-so-unusual-2000561630