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Subscribe to RSSAn outbreak sends waves of patients into emergency rooms and clinics. KARE's Boua Xiong reports.
Flu Near You
A vast swath of red across the U.S. indicates a high level of flu activity.
The nation’s early flu season continued to grow in the U.S. this week, with no sign yet of a peak in the spread of coughing, achy, feverish illness, health officials said Friday.
"I think we're still accelerating," said Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman.
Twenty-nine states and New York City reported high levels of flu activity, up from 16 states and NYC the previous week. Flu was widespread in 41 states, up from 31 states, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of the week ending Dec. 29, 2,257 people had been hospitalized with flu, and 18 children had died from complications of the illness, CDC reported.
“It’s about five weeks ahead of the average flu season,” said Lyn Finelli, lead of the surveillance and response team that monitors influenza for the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “We haven’t seen such an early season since 2003 to 2004.”
That’s the year that Joe Lastinger’s 3-year-old daughter, Emily, fell ill with the flu in late January and died five days later.
“That was the first really bad season for children in a while,” said Lastinger, 40, who lives near Dallas, Texas. “For whatever reason that’s not well understood, it affected her and it killed her.”
During that season, illnesses peaked in early to mid-December, followed by a peak in flu-related pneumonia and deaths in early January. It was over by mid-February and was considered a “moderately severe” season for flu, according to the CDC. Finelli and other CDC officials say it’s too early to tell exactly how bad this year’s season will be.
But over at Google Flu Trends, which monitors flu activity in the U.S. and around the world based on internet search terms, this year’s season has already topped the bright-red “intense” category.
And at Flu Near You, a new real-time tracking tool that’s gaining about 100 participants each week, about 4 percent of the 10,000 users say they’ve come down with flu symptoms.
Joe Lastinger's 3-year-old daughter, Emily, fell ill with the flu in late January 2004 and died five days later.
“That’s huge,” says John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston. “Last year, we never got near this.”
Brownstein is one of the founders of the project coordinated by Children’s Hospital Boston, the Skoll Global Threats Fund and the American Public Health Association. Though it’s still in its early stages, it already has generated new, interesting and, most of all, immediate data about this year’s flu season.
“It’s what we call ‘nowcasting,’” Brownstein said. “It’s a more up-to-date view.”
CDC data, which is based on visits to doctors for influenza-like illness, can lag two weeks or more behind real-time activity.
By contrast, Flu Near You can paint an immediate picture of what’s new with flu.
For instance, Brownstein said his data show that cough is the most frequently reported flu symptom this season, at 19 percent. It’s been followed by sore throat, 16 percent; fatigue, 15 percent; headache, 14 percent; body ache, 10 percent and fever, just 7 percent.
More telling, for people who reported both flu symptoms and vaccination status, of those who got the flu, three out of four were not vaccinated, while a quarter had gotten their flu shots.
Brownstein cautioned that can’t be used as a true measure of this season’s vaccine efficacy because of variables in reporting. But the CDC says that in the 2010-2011 flu season, vaccine effectiveness was about 60 percent for all age groups combined.
The agency has received reports that people who were vaccinated still developed laboratory-confirmed strains of flu. CDC officials said it’s not possible to know whether that’s happening more this season than usual and that the agency is “watching the situation closely.”
Overall, this year’s vaccines appear to be well matched for the two strains of influenza A and one strain of influenza B that are circulating this year, CDC officials have said.
The dominant strain this year is the H3N2 strain, which can cause more serious illness. Flu seasons can vary widely, but some years are severe, with hospitalizations of up to 200,000 people and between 3,000 and 49,000 deaths during a season.
As of December 14, the latest CDC figures available, about 127 million doses of flu vaccine had been distributed, from about 135 million doses produced for this season.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, flu season is here early in all 50 states, and it could be very serious. Dr. Nancy Snyderman explains the spike and says it is still not too late to get a flu shot.
Joe Lastinger was one of the first to sign up for the Flu Near You tracking program after its test phase. The health care executive and father of three surviving children said it gives participants information they can act on about flu in their communities.
“I’m always excited about getting ahead of it,” he said. “This is a tool you can use. If everybody starts reporting these symptoms, you’re ahead.”
Information about vaccination is particularly important, said Lastinger. Flu vaccinations weren’t routinely recommended for healthy children Emily’s age back then, and Lastinger and his wife weren’t worried about it.
“For us, vaccination was the thing we should have done, had we known,” he said. “Flu needed to be up there on our parent radar of things to worry about. We think it should be on every parent’s list.”
Related stories:
- More evidence of a nasty flu season ahead
- Flu season could be a bad one, health officials say
- Flu shots still a hard sell, health experts find
Leave a Comment:
There is a solution other than the flu shot. Don't be part of the herd.
Yeah. Get the flu.
They must have upped the virus dosage in this years batch of flu shots that have made everyone sick hence cause this outbreak.
I wonder how many of the people that got the flu or passed from the flu got the Flu vaccine! That'd be an interesting fact to know here.
No flu shots for us and we rarely get sick! :)
Who's to say you would get the flu or not get the flu? Treat it as it comes don't inject your bodies with something that usually CAUSES you to get the flu anyway. It's pointless. The gov't uses the media to try and scare people into getting their shots to make money. They throw out these 'big' long numbers and make us think its an obscure amount of sickness'. When in fact it isnt. If you eat healthy, bathe properly exercise regularly and take care of your self, youre less likely to get sick.
However, sickness is a normal thing our body needs. It builds our immune systems up and teaches it how to fight future infections/illness'. Why pump your body with vaccines that allegedly don't allow your body to get sick? Then when you do get REALLY sick with cancer or something else, your body isn't going to know how to fight it off. It's natural to get sick just take care of yourself.
That is all :)
Spoken like a true believer who has not died from the flu. The percentages are with the majority for survival there is no arguing that but should you not be in that group you could be dead as a result of your choices. If a million die from a flu epidemic that is less than .3% of our population. As populations go not a big deal but should that target a certain portion of one generation it will be a disaster. Controlling the extent of a disaster is good economics, it is smart to be safe and avoid to many extra trips to the grave. Your last trip could be one to many for you.
I'm fine with trying to help our bodies not become sick, i do it every day by eating good and exercising. I just don't agree with what is put into the shots.
Do your research and you'll find that the flu is part of life. Be proactive and do proper hygiene, healthy living, and watch what goes into and out of your body. I worked at a nursing home and hospital for 11 years and never called in ill. This doesn't mean I didn't have to fight off the common cold, and yes the flu. It's possible to live without having all of this discussion, but it's beneficial to understand and do your own research. There are reasons why people are diagnosed imminent to die in days or weeks and live longer after getting off their meds and taking their treatments. Just something to think about.
Caught on camera: Man allegedly ‘raped’ ponies
A miniature horse owner asks for the public’s help in identifying a man who she says was caught
"assaulting her herd on surveillance camera in Florida!?"
News of the sick and wierd!
http : // video.msnbc.msn.com/ nbc-news/ 50344658?lite=&lite=obnetwork
No comment either way, but my husband & I have received the flu vaccine every year for as long as we've been married, over 45 yrs..... Just an observation from a retired RN..... Might be a more accurate & believable photo if the Professional administering the shot had gloves on..... Without is a definite "NO ,No !!"
"Code Red"? Really NBC? Could you possibly fear-monger a flu season more?
That last question was rhetorical; I'm sure you guys can find a way to fear-monger it more. Perhaps "Double Code Red" or, "Virus DEFCON 1," for example.
Flu shots make economic sense, lost wages, lost productivity, and wasted medical resources. Young adults and children are most at risk from the flu, why is there not a demand for more public funded prevention. The GOP standing strong against America, well I guess it will take a million children and young adults under 25 dead to cure there resistence to public funded prevention. Just like seat belts and air bags we needed lots of dead people before we could get action. The government is not going to tell us what to do, I guess losing 20-30% of one generation of youth could change that attitude as they weep by they graves of their children. Flu puts youth most at risk. Demand public funded flu shots for everyone save a generation before we lose a generation. Numbers do not lie and the risk is real and growing.
Comparing seat belts and airbags to vaccines is a poor choice of comparison.
It is simply about reconizing risk and taking actions that lower those risk and cost associated with a bad outcomes. Long hospitalizations, long term disability, and permanently dead.
Last time I got a flu shot I was sick for 5 days and that was 6 years ago. I haven't had a flu shot since and haven't had so much as a touch of the sniffles then so screw flu shots....
Shame on all you people who judge people who don't get vaccinated. My daughter received the flu shot for the first time during the H1N1 season because she has asthma and she still has side effects to this day. I am sure you would think differently if your loved one had severe side effects. I am not anti-vaccine, however, just know that side effects DO HAPPEN to people so don't be so quick to judge those who decide not to get one....JERKS!!!!!
cheri, first off, I'm sorry to hear your child had such a bad reaction. But, it is rare, although thats not comforting to someone who did get effected.
The facts are that someone with a pre-existing ailment, as your daughter has (Asthma) is much more suceptible to adverse reaction. You are well aware the an asthmatic child has a very compromised immune system to begin with. But, she also would (could be) dead, had she in fact contracted the H1N1 virus.. So, as bad as it is, it is possible that had she not been vaccinated, she may not be here at all.
Who is to say they would get that virus though? No one is to say no one knows. And who is to say her daughter would have passed away? too many maybes in that scenario.
That would have learned her, though. Tough lesson to learn, but sometimes it takes a death in the family for people to take action.
Cheri - I agree, you do have to be careful.
I have a close relative (not asthmatic) who never gets flu shots due to severe reactions, and another (also, no asthma) that used to get run down and feverish for a couple days every time they got one.
The shots are not for everyone. Sorry to hear your daughter had such a bad reaction.
"Herd Immunity"... what a joke. All they are doing is unnaturally increasing the size of the herd, and therefore weakening the natural immunities of them. Everybody always taking the flu shot will eventually make a whoppingly strong strain, or make the millions shot junkies weak. Think of it like the proven problems with overuse of antibiotics, the two are completely different animals but a loose analogy fits.
We are breeding a big fat world of weak humans that would not have survived 100 years ago, and this is supposed to be a good thing?
I'm OK with diseases that are going to kill, but not cripple, people. That way you truly thin the herd instead of just creating more cripples for the herd to take care of.
If you are referring to Polio crippling people, that is a highly misunderstood situation. The crippling is caused by the treatment and medicines given to people that already HAVE polio, not polio itself.
If someone today went back one hundred years that person would cause a global epidemic. Feeling your oats today, thinking your survival percentage is much better than your neighbors. Yes modern medicine is a two way street but so is our entire civilization. We are totally tech dependant, is that bad? Who knows you can always opt out and go it alone there is wilderness left in Alaska and other isolated places globally. Reducing risk factors does extend lives and for most of us lemmings it provides a very comfortable life experience. Giving us time and technology to write our opinions on sites like this. Are you ready to forgo all or just what you want, selective survivor with an ax to grind.
Concerned about herd immunity you could move to Africa where the herd immunity is the strongest and life expectancy the shortest. Do not be a wall flower go today and save yourself the misery of modern existence living in and amoungst the weakest herd.
It's funny...when I was in the military we were vaccinating people against anthrax before deployments, etc. Everyone was up in arms over getting vaccinations. Until inhalational anthrax hit the post office. Then people were climbing over each other to get vaccinated.
Whooping cough has made a comeback because of people's ignorance about vaccine safety. We had a four month old admitted to a tertiary care center because her mom was one of these antivaccine people; infant was diagnosed with pertussis, spent about ten days in the PICU before expiring.
Majority of these diseases were 80-95% non-existent BEFORE creating these vaccines.
Cite it, Please. Because I think you don't have a clue about diseases or vaccinations...
Kelsey, are you being sarcastic? I hope so, because I can't fathom how someone could believe that smallpox, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping couch, etc. were "80-95% nonexistent" before their vaccines were developed. That's a staggering level of ignorance.
Here is an interesting article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation_in_wild_animals
Disease is just a part of it. When are we going to stop treating the symptoms and start curring the problems? Oh, I know the answer to that already. Sorry.
I get a flu shot every year at my place of employment. This is the first time in years I got it. It was a bad one. I had the sore throat, headache, aches and chills. No real fever. Developed a cough, got better and followed up with a sinus/upper respieratory infection and got antibiotics. I finished my course and am on the mend, but I still have the cough at times.
I don't get sick much.
Sounds like you were fortunate to get the shot when you did. You were obviously the target group the real virus was going to effect. Without the shot you could have ended up with an extended hospitalization or even less desirable death and bural expenses. Now that would have been a bummer. Suffering a little is sometimes preferable to dieing and never suffering again. But who am I to say one is better than the other. Just a perspective you might not have embraced in your sufferings. I wish you well.
The last and final flu shot I received was in the '80's. It was the year that the vaccine harmed more people than it helped. Not too long ago, there was not enough vaccine for the type of flu, so they gave an ineffective vaccine to the public to avoid panic....I keep away from crowds and children, but can not afford to allow someone to experiment with my body. I did enough of that myself in the '70's.
I suffered, and I mean SUFFERED, through a bout of Swine Flu in '09. I spent four months in and out of hospitals, two surgeries (for the secondary complications I received) and a six month off period of doctor ordered bed rest. I never want to be that sick again, if I can help it. I hurt so bad, I wanted to die, no exaggeration.
My family ALL get the flu shot...lesson learned. The hard way.
Just standard boilerplate from the corporate whore media that is constantly published throughout the ages. Panic and urgency is required to sell useless and dangerous vaccinations to the naive public for benefit of the criminal medical empire.
You're one of those people who should NEVER get vaccinated, for anything.
And never see a health care professional, of any kind, for any reason. Ever!
My doctor told me not to take a flu shot because a higher percentage of his patients who had taken the shots were getting the flu than those who didn't take the shots. And my sister's doctor told her the same thing.
In 1976, Westinghouse pressured its employees to take swine flu shots and 80% of its people did so, including myself. I missed about two weeks of work with swine flu and so did more than two hundred others who took the shots. Westinghouse never again asked its employess to take flu shots.
There are multiple studies that indicate that flu shots are worthless and can weaken the immune system, which makes one susceptible to getting the flu or other diseases.
I am positive that pharmaceutical companies know that flu shots are worthless and potentially harmful to humans, but their greed for profits drives them to push these shots on the population. I'm sure that they will say that they do, but I'm sure that the employees of such pharmaceutical companies don't actually take the shots.
I've never taken another flu shot and have never again had the flu. If you eat well, exercise, and can find a way to deal with stress, your immune system stays healthy and can fight off any viral or bacterial infection of the body.
Flue shot has very little effect on your situation., that is all hype, so they can collect. If you are normal healthy you do not have any advantage of getting it at all, and the ones who die from flu, would die anyway whether vaccinated or not because they have other problems--I had the Swine Flue and the shot made no difference at all.
But some child hood vaccinations you do need and must have.
Read Dr Blaylock reports on flue shots, I am sure you can find his newsletters.
I have been to most vaccine "factories" and you would be surprised what really goes on in that "business"--And you are not at all protecting yourself from giving it to others by you getting the shot, not at all--has nothing to do with that.
Yeah, the 75%-25% ratio is all hype.
Did you learn that in retard school?
I had a really healthy vibrant neighbor who was of your same mind set, well a long story shortend, he took it with him to his grave. I wish you well.
Well then, your neighbor must be typical of everyone else in the country, right?
You did notice that the 75% were the ones WITHOUT the flu, didn't you?
All anti-vacciners have anecdotes about someone who got the vaccine and died an agonizing, horrible death, yet we never read about them. Maybe he had rabies.
Or maybe it's Big Pharma, dictating to the press what they can write about again, huh?
I'm a nurse 'god'. The people who are claiming the flu vaccination got them sick, or claim their doctor (or any health care professional) said anything about 'people getting the flu shot are coming down sick' is a lie. The vaccination CAN NOT GET YOU SICK. If you got sick, you already were exposed to the flu before you receive your vaccination, and it's rare that someone who's already inoculated gets the disease, very very rare.
I was a naysayer about getting the flu vaccination too, because I never get sick and I'm exposed a heck of a lot more than the average person, because of my profession...until I got it during that Swine Flu epidemic a few years ago, and for the record I was not in the demographic that it seem to effect the most. I was so sick, I wanted to die. I hurt, was weak, caught secondary complications and it seem to last and last, have any of you not eaten food for weeks on end...I would have KILLED any of you for just one bite of HOSPITAL food, or a sip of water.
Yeah, come see some of the most innocent victims of stupidity on the children's because their parents were afraid of vaccinating their kids because some moron like Jenny McCarthy told them it can cause Autism...
for the record, I AM the parent of an Autistic child.
It's a Flu-nami!!!
I should trademark that.
Kelsey...Good posts ...I agree...Rex..thank you for link to norovirus....informative...
I, for one, welcome the return of Capt. Tripps. Can you digg your man?
Mr. Steady..... PARANOID, CONSPIRACY THEORISTS UNITE!
Is he Pharma Industry greedy? Sure they are! As are most big business companies! However, making moronic statements like "We wouldn't even have a health care crisis in this country if we got rid of big pharma and the FDA." is just wrong and it makes you look like a fool. They have their flaws but both the pharma industry and the FDA have done far more good then bad!
Disclaimer time!
1) I am NOT a Republican!
2) I do NOT work for the FDA or ANY government agency!
3) I do NOT work in the "Pharma" Industry!
4) You need to learn how to use the "reply" button.
5) You need to do some research on how corrupt the FDA and big pharma are.
6) Name me ONE medicine or drug that has never had a single side effect. Go ahead. Name me one and provide the evidence. You can't.
Everybody I'm closest to has gotten the flu shot--myself included. We ALL got the same strain of flu that was not in the shot. Yes, everybody I know has gotten this particular flu bug. It's rampant here in North Alabama. However, the symptoms we've experienced have been mild.
I highly recommed drinking a shot of ice-cold Jagermeister for the cough. It works a helluva lot better than the cough syrup I was prescribed.
To get a flu shot or to not get a flu shot is a personal choice. One year ago, at the age of 62, I received my first flu shot in 44 years, and I just got one five days ago. I've never come down with the flu after receiving a flu shot but I've suffered through it many times when I did not get a flu shot. I'd rather feel well than feel sick, and if push comes to shove I'd rather live than die, although I'm not afraid of dying.