Flu Update- 7 Quick Facts (US and Europe)
It’s still plenty bad out there. Here is the low-down, and a place to click to find treatment, vaccine, and reported levels of illness near you (see link at the bottom):
The USA:
- The West coast seems to be showing some decrease in cases (YAY!).
- But- most of the US still hit pretty hard, though,
- Influence like illness still very high
- Hospitals across the USA have a record number of admissions due to the flu and flu like illnesses
- It hit early, spread super fast across the USA (CDC graph below):
3. Deaths-
- Sadly, another 7 children died this week (season total – 37 children)
- Adult deaths– are not a reportable statistic for flu nationwide, but in some individual states, it is. (For example, N.Caroline reports 46 adult deaths related to the flu.)
- Deaths overall are expected to exceed those from the 2014-2015 flu year, where 56,000 people in the USA died.
- The flu increases the risk of heart attack (MI) shortly after the illness (here)
4. 11 States have closed schools-
- anywhere from 1 day to a week
- due to high number of flu cases in teachers and students, and to support staying home and stopping the wide transmission rates
5. Europe-
- # cases is elevated in Northern, Western, and Southwestern Europe, but lower in Eastern Europe.
- Europe cases are primarily one of the “B” strains of flu, where USA is primarily H3N2 strain
6. For help with any of the following, click here
- Flu vaccine or antiviral treatment near you
- Flu case reports near you
- Information on what to do if you are sick
7. CDC STILL recommends GET A FLU VACCINE if you haven’t-
- the data is showing that even though the vaccine is not as protective as we hoped, it still decreases the risk of hospitalization and death.
- A large percentage of the children that have dies from flu this year were NOT vaccinated.
- Check out THIS study in children
Stay Healthy!
