A woman prepares to receive a flu shot on January 22, in San Francisco. There was little influenza B activity last season, according to the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. If they're infected with the flu virus, these symptoms could be a recipe for disaster. Flu can also make chronic medical problems worse, including asthma and chronic heart disease. Flu-like illness can be the diagnosis when doctors aren’t sure what virus is at play since signs and symptoms of bad colds and several … Veuer’s Natasha Abellard has the story. ... since October 2019, 9.7 million flu … Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 16 May 2019. Added national flu report, surveillance graphs and data for week 21, 2019. A nurse prepares a flu shot from a vaccine vial at the Salvation Army in Atlanta on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2019. 23 May 2019. The flu can cause complications that later turn fatal. The Global Influenza Strategy for 2019-2030 provides a framework for WHO, countries and partners to approach influenza holistically through tailored national programmes – from surveillance to disease prevention and control – with the goal of strengthening seasonal prevention and control and preparedness for future pandemics. People at higher risk of developing flu complications include: 1. The just-ended 2018-2019 flu season was relatively mild compared to the last season, during which nearly 80,000 people in the U.S. died of flu-related illness, according to … There are four types of influenza viruses, and then subtypes of those. Added national flu report for week 22, 2019. The South is particularly afflicted by the flu this year, while mid-Atlantic and Northeast states are not as afflicted. But, here's the kicker: It's impossible to know whether you have the flu based on symptoms alone. Peak flu season is typically December through February. Unlike the common cold, flu symptoms hit suddenly — within a matter of hours. Cumulative 2019/2020 Season Lot Release Status (Updated 12/5/2019) Flu vaccine lots that have been released by FDA and are available for distribution by the manufacturers. "Typically, you see influenza A as the early wave of the flu, and influenza B starts to show up at the end of the spring," he told USA TODAY. University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, How effective is it? Flu and other seasonal respiratory illness are tracked year round. Flu symptoms may vary from person to person. The same flu virus that caused the 1918 pandemic is back this year H1N1, the same strain that killed over 50 million in the late 1910s, is back. This year, up to 22,300 adults have died of the flu and hundreds of thousands have been hospitalized. Flu symptoms appear 1 to 4 days after exposure to the virus. This flu season, health experts are mostly seeing H1N1 and H3N2 viruses. "There's still a lot of flu to come.". It's unclear, Milstone said, if there is a biological explanation for why influenza B emerges toward the end of the flu season – and why this year is an exception. There are three species – A, B and C – that can infect people. Influenza is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system — your nose, throat and lungs. ", Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote, This is what you should expect from this year’s flu season. More than 40 children have died. If you're otherwise healthy, you'll likely recover without complications. US influenza statistics by flu season. Eight influenza outbreaks were reported from residential aged care facilities last month. Overview. more people were vaccinated this year compared to last, Flu is widespread in US with 7.3 million people sick, but experts see a milder season, Fourth-grader dies same day she's diagnosed with flu, strep throat: 'Our hearts are completely broken', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Influenza B, one type of influenza virus, is dominating the 2019-2020 flu season early on. This year's vaccine is 62 percent effective against H1N1 and 44 percent effective against H3N2, Brammer, told HealthDayNews. Here's what you need to know, according to experts. * Estimates from the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 seasons are preliminary and may change as data are finalized. There have been about 910 deaths, 16,000 hospitalizations, 800,000 doctors' visits and 1.7 million cases of the flu connected to the 2019-2020 flu season, according to the CDC. Milstone's advice? Preliminary CDC estimates for the 2019-2020 influenza season indicate that, as of April 4, 2020, between 24,000 and 62,000 lost their lives to … A different strain of the flu virus, a "variant" virus, now accounts for 46.9 percent of cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Unlike the common cold, flu symptoms hit suddenly — within a matter of hours. Last week, an elementary school girl in Ohio died the same day she was diagnosed with flu and strep throat. "It looks like we are moving from an H1 wave to an H3 wave," said Lynnette Brammer, lead of CDC's domestic influenza surveillance team, HealthDayNews reports. Next 2018–2019 Page last reviewed: October 1, 2020 During the 2017-18 season, which led to 79,000 deaths related to the flu, the CDC estimated flu vaccines prevented more than 7 million flu cases, 3.7 million visits to the doctor, 109,000 hospitalizations and 8,000 deaths. Flu: The World Health Organization estimates that 1 billion people worldwide get the flu every year. Flu activity has been elevated since the start of November and … THIS map reveals the UK flu hotspots as health bosses warned the virus has hit early - putting thousands of kids at risk. Flu symptoms. But you can get the vaccine later. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page called "Disease Burden of Influenza": "Each year CDC estimates the burden of influenza in the U.S. CDC uses modeling to estimate the number of influenza illnesses, medical visits, flu-associated hospitalizations, and flu-associated deaths that occur in the U.S. in a given season. "This year, it just flip-flopped.". This week CDC provided its first preliminary in-season estimates for the burden of flu so far during the 2019-2020 #flu season. If you start to develop any of the symptoms below, follow the same precautions taken for COVID-19. Stomach flu and flu peak seasons The stomach flu and flu have peak seasons that overlap. A super-vaccine for the flu is marketed to people 65 and older. The CDC estimates that 80,000 people died of the flu during the 2017-2018 season. It's offered every year on the NHS to help protect people at risk of flu and its complications. CNN reports that Fauci says the 2019-2020 flu season is on track to be as severe as the 2017-2018 season, which was the deadliest in at least a decade. The flu vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine. Flu virus is a quick change artist. In week nine of 2019, pneumonia and influenza accounted for 7.2% of all the deaths that occurred. Known to infect only humans and seals, influenza B tends to pass from human to human. Get the flu shot – especially before the flu season starts to peak. The CDC said 62% of positive flu specimens tested by public health laboratories nationwide were influenza B. Here's what doctors say, A super-vaccine for the flu is marketed to people 65 and older, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The best time to have the flu vaccine is in the autumn before flu starts spreading. In the U.S., for Oct. 1, 2019–Apr. Examples include pneumonia; inflammation of the heart, brain or muscle tissues; and multiple organ failure. If you think you have the flu and are at high risk of developing complications, the CDC recommends visiting a doctor. Young children under age 5, and especially those under 12 months 2. This flu season is going to be a bad one! Children with the flu could also vomit and have diarrhea, according to the CDC. Some people only get mildly ill. Others get very sick. The only way to tell for sure is to take a laboratory test, but that's not always needed for treatment. While the timing of flu season varies each year, the CDC estimates viruses gear up in October and November and continue as late as May. Here's what doctors say, Kids should've gotten a flu shot already: But some parents are skeptical it works, Is it legit? The 2019-2020 flu season in the USA has commenced and may be attributed to the early rise of influenza B – a strain of the virus that typically emerges toward the end of … That could mean an increase in sickness: Even though more people were vaccinated this year compared to last, the current immunization protects better against the main strain, H1N1, and not as well against H3N2 viruses, according to data released Friday. Vaccines are still the best way to prevent both strains of flu. The 2019-2020 flu season is up and running—and so far, it's off to a weird start. Sixteen states – Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia – have reported widespread flu. Influenza is commonly called the flu, but it's not the same as stomach \"flu\" viruses that cause diarrhea and vomiting.For most people, influenza resolves on its own. "Even though some people are concerned that it's ineffective, it is still by far the best thing you can do," he said. It's still hard to tell, Milstone said, what the prevalence of influenza B will mean for this year's flu season. There are three types of flu viruses: A, B, and C. Type A and B cause the annual influenza epidemics that have up to 20% of the population sniffling, aching, coughing, and running high fevers. The CDC website says flu season peaks between December and February, but can last throughout May. Children younger than 5, senior citizens, pregnant women, American Indians and Alaska Natives are the most at risk for serious flu-related complications, the CDC says. This flu season is the earliest this decade that the percentage of visits to health care providers associated with influenza-like illnesses is above the national baseline – the last time it exceeded the baseline this early, excluding 2009 during the H1N1 epidemic, was the 2003-2004 flu season, when an especially virulent strain of influenza A ravaged the USA. The 2019-2020 flu season in the USA has commenced and may be attributed to the early rise of influenza B – a strain of the virus that typically emerges toward the end of flu season. Preliminary figures suggest this … Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets, Essentials you'll need for to survive this record-breaking flu season. But for infants, older adults an… It tends to affect children and young adults more severely than its type A counterpart: 46% of children up to age 4 and 60% of children and young adults tested positive for influenza B. While this year's flu season hasn't been as brutal as past years, health experts say we still aren't in the clear — a more severe strain now accounts for nearly half of all new cases, and flu season could linger until May. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/YJiAnYgfPp. The flu shot: How effective is it? But sometimes, influenza and its complications can be deadly. A person, commuting to work on a packed bus, coughs. The committee recommended that the trivalent formulation influenza vaccines for the U.S. 2018-2019 influenza season contain the following: an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1) pdm09-like virus … More: Flu is widespread in US with 7.3 million people sick, but experts see a milder season. How to get the flu vaccine. Don't be caught unprepared without these essential items. The flu vaccine covers influenza A and B, he said, and is recommended by the CDC for everybody older than 6 months who wouldn't have a harmful reaction to the vaccine. Updated: 16 Dec 2019, 14:44; INFLUENZA - or flu to most of us - is a highly contagious virus that has millions of Brits bedridden for a few days or longer each year. Flu activity has been higher than normal for the past month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and continues to rise. As of Nov. 30, 3.5% of visits to health care providers were due to influenza-like illnesses, considerably higher than the average national baseline of 2.2% but probably not the peak. More: Fourth-grader dies same day she's diagnosed with flu, strep throat: 'Our hearts are completely broken'. The flu virus is very contagious. In the four week period to March 3 there were 2244 confirmed influenza notifications, “markedly higher” than the 1144 reported for February 2018, and higher than the number of notifications reported for January 2019 (2065 in a five week period). The H3 virus is considered more severe, according to the CDC. COVID-19 and the flu can have similar symptoms. More people are being infected with influenza B early in the flu season, said Aaron Milstone, a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. serious disease because it can lead to: 1. bronchitis 2. croup 3 Influenza is not a single, static virus. Milstone advises other standbys: "People should wash their hands a lot, before they're eating, touching their face," he said. This is what you should look for from the 2019 flu season. when an especially virulent strain of influenza A ravaged the USA. 4, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there were 39 million to 56 million cases of flu. While flu complications are rare, they do happen. For the 2018-2019 US flu season, which started October 1, 2018, and ended May 4, preliminary numbers from the CDC estimate there were nearly 42.9 million cases of flu… Viral gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection marked by watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever.The most common way to develop viral gastroenteritis — often called stomach flu —is through contact with an infected person or by ingesting contaminated food or water. "If people do have fevers, they should be staying at home.