Flu Season May Still Be in Full Swing

April 17,2018

If you are one of the many people who still fear getting flu vaccinations, the 2017-2018 flu season might change your mind. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current flu season is the first time all states in the continental United States have reported widespread flu activity during the same three-week period. For the first time in the past fifteen years, all 49 states are still seeing cases and reporting a medical impact from the flu. This is also expected to become one of the deadliest flu seasons on record.

Schools systems from Florida to Texas and California to New York are reporting weeklong closures due to the large numbers of students that are sick with the influenza virus. More alarming than the number of people being hospitalized with flu symptoms are the number of deaths that are expected to occur before this season ends. This season has now proved more intense than any since the 2009 swine flu pandemic and is expected to surpass that of the 2014-2015 season. During that season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, 34 million Americans got the flu, 710,000 were hospitalized and about 56,000 died.

This flu season has served as a chilling reminder that the flu virus can kill anyone. A number of news stories have appeared where young adults, who were otherwise healthy, experienced fatal organ failure due to flu-related septic shock. On average, about 36,000 people per year in the United States die from influenza, and 114,000 per year have to be admitted to the hospital due to influenza infection. A recent CDC health advisory stressed the importance of rapid and early antiviral treatments (like Tamiflu) for the rest of this season. If you did not get a flu vaccination, the CDC recommends vaccination now and as long as the influenza viruses are circulating.

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