Flu season worsens as illness spreads to at least 35 states, CDC says
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FILE: Oct. 17, 2012: A flu shot is administered in Jackson, Miss. (AP)
Flu season is ramping up in the United States, with the illness now widespread in at least 35 states, up from 25 in the previous week, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lyn Finelli, a flu expert with the CDC, said the agency's weekly report shows "We're in the thick of flu season." She told The Associated Press that the season likely hasn't peaked, but that it's too soon to know if it will be worse than normal.
The numbers aren't as high so far as last year, when flu season started early. The number of people seeking medical care for the flu climbed to more than 4 percent of all doctor visits last week, a near doubling from two weeks earlier.
State health officials in North Carolina reported Thursday that the death toll from the seasonal flu outbreak had risen to 21, 19 of which were young and middle-aged adults, most of whom had underlying medical conditions. Only two deaths have been reported in persons over 65.
Health officials said flu activity has been widespread in North Carolina since mid-December. Flu season typically peaks during January and February.
In Washington, health officials said Friday there have been 11 flu deaths in the state this season. Five of the deaths have been in King County, which can be expected as the population center of the state. There were 54 official flu deaths in the state last season.
Washington Health Department Spokesman Marqise Allen said the number is not unusual, but the department urges everyone over the age of 6 months to have a vaccination. The swine flu has been the most common strain, and the current vaccine available covers the H1N1 virus.
In Nevada, five people have died in Washoe County, and the Southern Nevada Health District reported that two middle-aged people and one elderly person have died in Clark County.
"These deaths serve as a stark reminder of what a serious illness flu can be and the importance of taking preventive measures," said Dr. Joe Iser, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District.
Health officials say it's not too late to get a flu vaccination. Flu season generally peaks in January or February, but it can continue well into spring. Besides being vaccinated, they recommend frequent hand-washing and covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough to stem the spread of germs.
People who are healthy should avoid close contact with someone who is sick, and those who do fall ill should stay home to prevent spreading the virus to others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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And, as usual, those overpriced flu shots have done nothing to lessen the epidemic. A curse on the CDC and its government propaganda.
Everyone in my family got their flu shots...it's just not worth getting sick, but if you do, call your doc for Tamiflu...it works wonders...my spouse got the flu last year due to not getting the flu shot..by the third dose you would never know he had the flu..
@marepa
If Tamiflu alleviated your symptoms, they were psychosomatic, not real.
This time of year is always the 'thick of the flu season'. This is the 'climate change' of medical ailments - flu seasons comes around every year and every year we know people will get the flu...some years are not as bad as others.. What is different this year is the record number of Americans who don't have health insurance for when they go to be treated for the flu - and last year they did..
Wonder if the bong passers (shown in news reports) at a Rocky Mountain High institute of higher education are among the statistics of those who caught the flu?? All it takes if for one of those kids to have the germ and the flu will spread...
Hey syfy movie writers , this could be a great title: THE Flu
CDC please show me stats of these claims?
with those who have flu and took The Flu Shot?
@fan2013That is usually the senior population, they get the flu shot but get other forms of the virus not covered by the shot due to their low immunity.
@marepa
In other words, those overpriced flu shots are a complete fraud.
This beeyach put me down for three full days this year.
I never get a flu shot and it's only once every 5 or 6 years that something slips by and puts me out.
Add those to your "statistics."
Got a flu shot this year. usually don't. don't usually have a problem. been sicker this year than i can ever remember. of course, i should have known that. the label on the serum said "manufactured by the DHS". Now I get it. Will never get a flu shot again, nor visit a doctor. they all work for the single payer system now. and i don't care to share my physical health (pretty good) or mental health (very bad) status with the democommies or republinazi's at the IRS, your new healthcare specialists! if i don't have a record, then i don't have to sweat the feral governments "murder boards"! stupid feral government, u are indeed transparent! :)
For goodness sakes, please get the flu shot! At the end of WWI, there was a pandemic of Flu and people died in the millions. They didn't have vaccinations then! You can't get the flu from the shot. That is a myth! It is an inactive virus. If you do get the flu, it's because the virus is already in your body! Wake up people!
@candoitnowVarying stats in efficacy. Thanks anyway, I'll pass.
@candoitnow be good for goodness sakes
you sound like anti santa
@candoitnowIT was called the Spanish flu, even though it had nothing to do with Spain...it actually started here in the US ...the people who died were healthy people due to "cytokine" overload..
@candoitnow
You would make a good spokesmen (a.k.a. liar) for Benevolent Big Brother. Flu shots often cause flu-like symptoms. The virus is inactive, but not dead. 99.99999999999999999% of people who get the flu contract it elsewhere, not because the virus is in their bodies. Wake up people. Your government lies to you. The media lies to you. Self-designated experts lie to you. And Internet commentators parrot their lies.
Good for you LGH, going in to inject that poison into your body every year. I for one, choose not to and have not been sick with the flu for the 6 yearI've declined. However, there are several people at work that have had their shots and most all of them have been out sick for colds, or 24 hour flu, etc. The three of us that have chosen not to get it have not had a sick day yet. I'm really TIRED of others trying to push their ideals at me all of the time. AND,...if you've had your flu shot and really believe it's doing something for you,....how are you going to get the flu? So why worry about those of us who haven't?
Would like to know how these statistics are supposed to be accurate when: Not everyone goes to the doctor when sick. Not everyone who goes to the doctor is screened for the flu or checked for type of flu. Those who are checked there are many false negatives for the flu. The test for the flu is not very reliable. There is no way to correctly measure the dependability of the flu shot because of these inaccuracies.
@AmericanPatriot4GodExactly. Bogus stats.
As bogus as every other stat our current admin has published in the past 6 years.
@AmericanPatriot4God
Don't worry. The CDC wouldn't lie to you. They are part of the government, that is always honest, upright, and fiscally responsible.
I had H1N1 4 years ago; caught it very early in the season before the immunization was out. Pretty unusual for that to happen. It was terrible. Was down (in bed) for two weeks, 104 degree fever and pneumonia, coughed up buckets of crud and a headache, muscle pain and chills like there was no tomorrow. H1N1 is a pneumonia-bearing flu so is very serious ...I was lucky, eventually healed. As long as you are not immune-compromised or allergic, I really believe the flu-shot is a good way to go. And as badly as I think of our government , I don't believe that they are out to control us with this vaccine. It is safer for the entire "herd" for immunization to occur, even for the idiot politicians and their families!
@RDH1988
"H1N1 is a pneumonia-bearing flu so is very serious"
When you make ludicrous statements like this, your entire specious argument is exposed. Pneumonia is a specific bacteria. It is not borne by any flu virus. It is contracted, like every secondary infection, because the primary infection weakens your body's resistance.
Flu shots are a fraud. They attack perhaps 3-4 of the thousands of viruses that are floating about, and provide no more security than a "beware of the dog" sign with no dog in sight.
Imagine if the reporter included a list of the impacted states .... or maybe even one of them fancy map thingys
Lets hope Obama gets it, and does not recover.
Anything but Democrats 2014 / 2016
@LaughingLoren
Don't be cruel. Obama should be healthy when he is impeached and hung.
Hey, Obama, if you want to score some big "political points" and prove how much you "care" about your peoples' health and to also flex those big "executive muscles" you love to throw up into our faces everyday, command that all your subjects have to get vaccinated against the flu viruses every year. Make it a frickin' law. At least, this law would actually be for peoples' own good. The flu vaccine works and should be on everybody's list of to-dos every year. This H1N1 stuff kills! It's NOT the regular flu.
@LGH
You can have your shot, but don't force that poison on the rest of us!
@ageofreason @LGH …. Well, the flu virus is SO CONTAGIOUS and there are SO MANY people who never get vaccinated, they are putting the rest of us at risk. Yes, I do get the shot every year and by so doing, I'm not only protecting myself from getting the flu and walking around contagious and exposing all who come in contact with me, but I'm actually protecting others since I'm not spreading it to them! So, I'm being responsible for myself AND for others when I get vaccinated!
@LGH I agree with you. I got my flu shot 2 months ago and last week got very mild case of flu for just 1 day.That's far better then being in a hospital for weeks like i was in 2003.I did not get the shot that year.
@Santos803 @LGH ……. you are so right! The vaccination absolutely DOES WORK to either prevent getting the flu or at least, preventing the flu virus from becoming a "full-blown" case (CDC says the protection rate is at 70% or better with the shot). Here in TX, we are still witnessing more and more deaths from this H1N1 strain that's the most prevalent this year. The general public, like that person above, who told me that the vaccination was "poison" in his/her opinion, well, that uninformed, misinformed idiot needs to do some historical research on the world-outbreak and pandemic of influenza in 1918, when millions upon millions of people, around the world, died from the flu. Ask any of them if they'd have taken a preventative flu vaccine if one had been available in those days.
@LGH You are spreading it to others only you aren't showing symptoms so they do not know to stay away from you. You are not helping others only yourself.
@AmericanPatriot4God … What? The virus is spread through the direct contact of an infected person, but it is also spread through droplets in the air. What's your point? The virus can be spread to others while the sick person is still exhibiting symptoms such as fever. I taught in public and private schools for nearly 25 years and know for a fact that sick kids are sent to school sick and contagious and spread their flu to untold numbers of other kids, since they're all closed up in rooms where the virus is on surfaces of tables, computers, door handles/knobs, etc, and in the air. Infected adults go to their jobs while sick and give the flu to lots of others in their offices.
@ageofreason@LGH I have received the flu shot every year since they started them and that was over 50 years ago. I have never gotten the flu and I attribute the shot to that.
I remember that the first flu shots were pretty raw. They were "Brown" and I had a headache and felt bad for a day, but every year, it got better, I don't think that the serum got "Clear" for several years, but even with the polluted vaccine, it worked fine.
The complaints that some people have with it are due mostly to paranoia.
@Dond133@ageofreason@LGH..it is possible to have a light antibody reaction as the med stimulates the body's immune system, but not to get an actual case of the disease. I have had slight reactions too...get the shot so you have a day or two to react and then it should be fine.
@Dond133 @ageofreason @LGH ... I agree with you and if lots more of our general population just "sucked it up" and showed up for the flu vaccination every year, the entire country would have a much decreased percentage of flu cases every year. I've been getting my shots since 1989 and like you, I rarely get sick, certainly not during the flu season. The shot works! I taught little kids for years and that's why I started getting my flu shots because the school classrooms were full of sick kids, whose parents wouldn't keep them home since the moms and dads weren't home to take care of them. They just sent them to school to suffer and infect the rest of us! A doctor once told me that teaching my little 2nd graders in my warm, closed up classroom (with feverish, coughing-in-your-face and hacking kids in such a small space) was actually worse than working in a hospital where exposure to germs and viruses is so great.
Well said ageofreason. Don't force that frickin' injection of whatever the heck they want to put in it on the whole country. Contrary to your belief LGH, some of us have brains and don't follow the sheeple herd that you yourself have chosen to follow. Also, I've yet to EVER see statistics stating that the flu shot PREVENTS the flu for all who receive it. If an innoculated individual does get the flu even after the shot, the medical community just tells them that they got a different STRAIN of flu than the one they innoculated for. Viruses can mutate into another form of the virus, thereby making the shot totally ineffective.
@LGH
Ignorant liberal fascist. Forcing people to get useless vaccinations is worse than forcing them to purchase useless and overpriced insurance.
I had the flu Last week, Purging from both ends for two days went to the doctor for help and they wouldn't even give antibiotics so it was a waste of time and money to see the doctor.
@wildflyer...Antibiotics don't WORK on the flu...it is a VIRUS! Influenza is NOT a gastrointestinal disease, it is a respiratory disease, although some may have nausea with it. People who get GI tract infections frequently refer to them as "flu" but it isn't the real flu! Basic medical facts! Antibiotics only work against BACTERIAL infections!
@wildflyer
Ignorant liberal who gets his/her education from SNL skits! Antibiotics don't help with viral infections, which the flu is. If your doctor gave you antibiotics for the flu, he would be degrading the efficacy of antibiotics for those who actually need them. It was YOU who chose to waste time and money to see a doctor. Are you three years old, that you don't know that all that can be done is bed rest, drink plenty of fluids, and take tylenol for the aches and fever? Those who develop secondary symptoms, such as bronchitis and pneumonia need to visit the doctor for treatment.
In 2009, when there was a shortage of H1N1 vaccine, I wasn't able to get protection and I caught it. I was careful, washed my hands, etc., and I caught the virus. Woke up having trouble breathing, got worse, called an ambulance, and 17 days later I awoke from a coma. GET THE FLU SHOT. Its so worth it.
Oh...and if you go into a coma, while you're not moving, your muscles atrophy faster than you can imagine. 17 days and I woke up virtually paralyzed. Could only move my big toe. Had to go to rehab to be able to walk again,,,,total time between coma and being able to walk and drive a car again...2 MONTHS!
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@HadEnoughAlready I have received the flu shot every year since they started them and that was over 50 years ago. I have never gotten the flu and I attribute the shot to that.
I remember that the first flu shots were pretty raw. They were "Brown" and I had a headache and felt bad for a day, but every year, it got better, I don't think that the serum got "Clear" for several years, but even with the polluted vaccine, it worked fine.
The complaints that some people have with it are due mostly to paranoia
@HadEnoughAlready...I've been there...very ill, but not as bad as you were. It was the trouble breating that sent me to the ER (we were vacationing at the time and I was back in Missouri) Cox-Medical South took me in immediately and helped me out quite a bit before I got too ill! Grateful to them, and my California Kaiser insurance paid every penny! Love Cox Medical and Kaiser! 2 of the best!!
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