Category: Influenza
CDC Sounds the Alarm on Rising Flu Hospitalizations
(MedPageToday)Influenza hospitalizations this early in the season are higher than they have been in a decade, according to the CDC, with 14 pediatric deaths reported so far. “Since October 1, there have already been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations, and 4,500 deaths from flu,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, on a […]
Dec 6, 2022
US flu activity soars; hospital cases nearly double
(CIDRAP) The early brisk flu season in the United States intensified last week, with hospitalizations almost doubling and most states in the red and purple high or very high zones, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest update. The United States and many countries in Europe are grappling with rising flu […]
Dec 5, 2022
Flu Hospitalizations Nearly Double Over the Last Week in the US
(Bloomberg) Influenza hospitalizations nearly doubled over the last week, adding to the already torrid season for respiratory illnesses in the US. There were 19,593 people hospitalized for influenza during the week ending Nov. 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Admission rates have reached the highest level in more than a decade, behind only […]
Dec 5, 2022
Flu continues to spread across the U.S., infecting millions, CDC reports
(NBC News) The floodgates have opened on the flu, with millions of people across the U.S. reporting the illness and nearly 3,000 deaths from influenza since the beginning of October, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the start of the holiday season and large family gatherings, cases are […]
Nov 29, 2022
Is it Covid, flu or RSV? A few hallmarks can help distinguish among the illnesses
(NBC News) Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are together driving a national wave of respiratory illnesses. Around 76% of U.S. hospital inpatient beds are full, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Pediatric beds are at a similar level, though six states have 90% or more of their pediatric beds full, […]
Nov 28, 2022
What Covid taught scientists and the public about the flu
(NBC News) For nearly three years, the medical and scientific world scrutinized Covid. That research helped experts gain a new understanding of a much older virus: the flu. On March 3, 2020, the head of the World Health Organization began a daily press briefing exhorting countries around the world to do more to stop the spread […]
Nov 22, 2022
Flu variant that hits kids and seniors harder than other strains is dominant in U.S. right now
(CNBC) The H3N2 variant has been associated with more severe flu seasons for children and the elderly in the past, according to the CDC. Public health labs have detected H3N2 in 76% of the more than 3,500 respiratory samples that have tested positive for the flu and were analyzed for the virus subtype The flu […]
Nov 21, 2022
What a ‘Tripledemic’ Means for Your Body
(The Atlantic) In 2020, and again in 2021, the dreaded twindemic never came. The worry among experts was that a winter COVID surge layered on top of flu season—or even, in worst-case scenarios, a flu outbreak of pandemic proportions—would push already strained hospitals to the brink. Thankfully, we got lucky. Flu season simply didn’t materialize […]
Nov 10, 2022
CDC Warns on Early Wave of Respiratory Illnesses
(MedPageToday) The CDC is warning of elevated levels of non-COVID respiratory illnesses in recent weeks — including rising cases of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinovirus. The surge stands in contrast to the lower activity of these viruses seen during the past couple of pandemic years, as a result of the various mitigation measures […]
Nov 4, 2022
Pfizer and BioNTech Initiate Phase 1 Study of Single Dose mRNA-Based Combination Vaccine Candidate for Influenza and COVID-19
(Pfizer) today announced the advancement of an mRNA-based combination vaccine candidate for influenza and COVID-19 to a Phase 1 trial with the aim to address two severe respiratory diseases with one vaccine. The first participant has been dosed in a Phase 1 trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a nucleoside-modified RNA (modRNA)-based combination […]
Nov 4, 2022