Flu Season
Trend Suggests Widespread Illness But Fewer Deaths And
Hospitalizations To Occur This Year
Illness Seen
Especially Among Younger Age Groups
Early reports about the 2019-2020 flu season have
indicated widespread activity throughout the country with all regions
experiencing cases above baseline illness levels. Despite this
increase as of early January, overall hospitalizations were occurring
at a rate similar to what has been seen in other recent flu seasons.
The good news is that both hospitalizations and the percent of deaths
due to pneumonia and influenza remain low.
Cause of Lower Impact
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites
the relatively higher prevalences of influenza B virus (Victoria) and
influenza A (H1N1pdm09) virus as the most likely explanation for these
results since these viruses are more likely to affect children and
younger adults than elderly persons. And flu B has been isolated in
two-thirds of the clinical specimens tested in the early part of the
season. In recent weeks, these two viruses have caused an equal number
of cases nationally.
Health Burden
Adults 65 and older still have the highest rate of
hospitalization followed by children 0-4 years of age.
While these trends are encouraging, CDC nevertheless
estimates that almost 13 million cases, 120,000 hospitalizations, and
6,600 deaths from flu have occurred this season. As of early January
2020, there have been 39 influenza-associated pediatric deaths,
approximately two-thirds of them associated with influenza B.
Preliminary evidence shows that 100% of the influenza A H1N1 viruses
characterized match this year’s vaccine reference viruses for flu H1N1
and 66% of the influenza B Victoria match the
vaccine reference strain. ■
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