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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:
lol wtf is the flu really,i havent been sick in 20 years,its not hard to be healthy and never get sick,dont take these @!$%#en pills they give you dont get the flu shot eath healthy fruits veggies drink lots of water you will never ever get sick promise,like i said i havent been sick in 20 years,and i dont even eat that great like i should,i mix fruits and veggies iun my everyday diet though,so ya @!$%# the gov and its flu shot.
".....dont get the flu shot eath healthy fruits veggies drink lots of water you will never ever get sick promise....."
LOL. And your opinion is based on scientific and medical testing done at..............................?
Let's conduct a simple test. Go into a room full of people suffering from the flu, let them cough in your face or you can touch a few things they have touched and then put your fingers in your mouth. Wait a few days and let us know how your theory is working.
Just another way to keep the public scared.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! LOL
giggle
My entire family spent almost an entire week at home right after Christmas. My wife and I still have it, and my wife has it worst. And guess what, she got the flu shot. It does not work because it is hit and miss. They can't formulate for everything.
I have missed almost a day and a half of work already and even though I am still sick, I have to come in tomorrow morning to finish up what I need to get done this week.
I have no advice. The Flu will find you, no matter where you are and your age.
I've had a flue for two weeks now. Lots of aches and pains, cold chills, nausia, etc. I seldom get the flu, so this is unusual.
My chimney has a flue, too. Doesn't complain about it much though...
(Minneapolis) My 20 year old daughter is currently in ICU and has been for a week now with the flu which resulted in severe pneumonia in both lungs. The strain she has wasn't covered in this years flu vaccine per the nurses at the hospital. This is terribly scary for her let alone me & the rest of the family & friends around her. I think had she gotten the shot, it would have at least lessened the issues she is currently dealing with. Today they are putting in a chest tube to try to drain fluid from her lungs. This all started out to be what seemed to be a common cold that changed into the worst of the worst in the blink of an eye. I have never known anyone to be hospitalized with the flu until now. This is no joke folks and by no means nothing to take lightly. Keep your family away from the sickness and make sure you get your vaccine. I myself have always been against getting the flu shot. I won't take it lightly again! Praying she recovers quickly It's mortifying to see your child in this condition!
oops101
I wish the best for her.
shoo shoo retarded flu!
What makes it spread worse is all the people who go to work sick and/or hop on an airplane and almost instantly spread it.
I rarely catch the flu, guess it don't like me. We'll see what happens since I switched my diet a year ago.
some live some die it is called natural selection...unless of course you are a pussy liberal or a right wing religous Jesus Freak...it is life's way of moving to the next generation...hopefully...the future kids will not be such pussies as this generation...let's quit football because of a concussion...let everyone suffer for a few that are injured or die...now that is being a pussy!!!
Play the odds ... get the vaccine it is never too late ... each day you wait you are taking a chance and will probably regret waiting it you do get the flu ...
As a 63 year old things were much different when I was a kid no hand sanitizers and it was relatively rare for a kid to wash his hands. When I skinned my knee I spit on my hand and rubbed it on my knee. When one person got the Chickenpox it was common to expose them to the other kids and have them all get over it at once. In other words we didn't have the germ phobia that grandparents and parents have today. This caused me to develop an extremely strong immune system. Needless to say since the flu shots are only 60% effective I do not get a flu shot.
Studies are beginning to show that it is possible to be too clean and disinfected. Use of hand sanitizers that kill 99% of the germs can turn the remaining 1% into superbugs. There is some evidence that the rise in asthma is because children are not exposed to allergens and germs when they are babies and their immune system does not develop properly.
Flu shots are designed to provoke the immune system into thinking that you have the flu. The immune system is provoked to create antibodies to the flu strain. This is also what happens when you are sick, So yes, some people do get sick with flu like symptoms when the get a shot. I personally think that due to their low effectiveness that flu shots are a scam. If you are a germ phobic who carries a portable container of hand sanitizer everywhere you go then perhaps you should get a flu shot for that underdeveloped immune system!
This government testing their viruses again. Funny, I never got the flu in 55 years but once and that was when I got the shot for it,, but this is all of deceptions so they can again test their plagues..Go O-Abomination in America
Very interesting that the only people I know who got the flu also got the flu shot. hmmm??
Yeah, I know a guy who got a flu shot a couple a weeks ago and he's felt crummy for the past week.
I thought the link said something about intestinal flu outbreak. I know that it is bad here as it has taken out about a third of the office. It is really bad news, too, as it hangs on for several days. Best thing is to treat the symptoms -- get a script for Phinergan for the nausea. Yeah, they're suppositories, but at least you won't puke them up. Also get s script for an anti-diarrhea medicine or get some Imodium. Get as much rest as you can and stay hydrated with lots of clear fluids.
I was a medic in the army around 1970. A guy came in with intestinal flu and nausea. We gave him anti-nausea suppositories and told him to come back in a few days. Next time we saw him we asked how they worked. He said they tasted terrible!
Intestinal flu is not really the flu. It's a different virus altogether. People mispeak when they say stomach or intestinal flu. The flu is a disease of the lungs.
The stomach flu is caused by the norovirus and what spreads like wildfire in nursing homes, cruise ships, hospitals, cruise ships. Usually last 24-48 hrs.
Flu shots don't work for everyone and it will kill some.
My experience with Flu shots is that every year I got one, I got very sick and still got the FLU to almost being hospitalized. For the past 16 years I have not gotten the flu shot and I have not even had to urge to puke my guts up.
it's always worse than they say, because they can't track the people who are too poor to go to the doctor.
seasonal flu shots are nothing but a HUGE big pharma and distributor money maker.i've known so many people that were very sick with the flu after having this poison injected into them.as a kid in the 60's and 70's there was no push for seasonal flu shots and were basically unknown. if you got the flu you stayed home a few days and got better. thats how you buildup your immune system ! every year you put the flu shot poison into your system you weaken your immune system.flu vaccines cost pennies to produce and store and ship and reap HUGE profits for those who mfg., advertise,distribute,and inject flu vaccines.stand in line for your flu shot sheeple....bwhahahaaha!
The only thing these Flu shot accomplish is to bilk millions of dollars from the scar tactics used on the people. Moreover, how effective can a real flu shot be to someone who becomes immune to taking this shots annually? Yes, it may help a few, but buying these shots is as common as buying milk at the grocery stores. In addition, few really know what affects these things have in the long run, I know the one time I took it, I was sick for several days, more miserable then getting the actual flu. Haven't taken it in years, and have never needed to,
As a note: I am not a physician or in the medical field. I have just done my research. I have had a flu shot twice in my life (of 63 years) and have become ill with the flu afterwards in each case. The worst one was where I was out for almost 2 weeks, about 14 years ago. Otherwise, I have been healthy and never had the flu other than a stomach or intestinal flu.
How many people die of influenza each year in the US?
<Drum roll>
No one really knows. See this from the CDC website.
The CDC measures this by upper respiratory cases. How many hospitals or doctors actually take swabs and run cultures to see if the flu is present or if it is only a stomach or intestinal virus?
How many people die (of the flu?) after getting the flu vaccinations? How many people die (of the flu?) if they don't get the flu vaccinations? The difference is very small. And, how many people die of the flu vaccine?
Remember, viruses cannot be treated with anti-biotics.
It costs about $25 to pay for the flu vaccination (whether it's your employer, your health insurance or you) and it costs mere pennies to produce each shot. How many people have had the vaccinations in the US this season thus far? Oh, over 150 million people. figure it out... again, follow the money.
Only 500 people died of the documented flu in Canada last season.
How many people died of "hospital-acquired infection"? Look at what this article has to say...
How many people are fired from their jobs each year (especially this season) for not lining up like a sheep for their flu shot? Well, I know of quite a few from reports. It is even more prevalent in hospitals, who need to fix the REAL problem... hospital-acquired infections.
What kills people who have the flu? Usually, it is meningitis, pneumonia, severe dehydration, and anything which is the result of extreme stress on the cardio-pulmonary system. All of which are treatable, if caught early enough or the patient is healthy enough to endure the treatment.
I am not claiming you should avoid flu vaccinations. I am only claiming there is more behind the scene than most people realize. And, I believe everyone needs to have ALL information available to them to make an INFORMED decision. Don't just line up like a sheep without serious investigation first.
So far 18 kids killed by the flu! THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE!! they should BAN it!!!
You people that refuse to get the flu shot over paranoid conspiracy theories put the rest of us at risk. Thanks.
It is not a conspiracy theory.
Do the research.
Did the people die of the "flu" or of something else? Remember, THE CDC DOES NOT TRACK THE CASES OF THE FLU!! ONLY, respiratory illnesses.
It is up to you to decide on what to do for yourself.
Thank you for proving my point.
Well, NBC has not allowed me to enter in the URLs in my previous note. Here they are in another format:
CDC URL: got to cdc dot gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm
cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm
Hospital-infectious Diseases: hospitalinfection dot org/essentialfacts/shtml
hospitalinfection.org/essentialfacts.shtml
My apologies.
I've had the flu for a week now. I was hospitalized for two days this week and was shaking so violently I turned my hospital bed into a low-rider.
Take it seriously - it's the most miserable thing.
My husband had those shakes and almost violent shivers when he got sick, the night before he went into the hospital. I've taken care of many sick people in my life, but never saw anything like that before. I kept warming up blankets in the dryer and wrapping them around him and that hardly helped.
My husband got both the flu shot and the pneumonia vaccination. I just brought him home yesterday from the hospital where he was in serious condition from getting the flu, and then pneumonia. He was so sick it was scary. The hospital is PACKED, as are all the doctors' offices and independent clinics. They got rid of us as gently but as quickly as possible once his white count was down from 25.4 to 10.......there were 18 people in the halls of the ER waiting for rooms. We are in SC.
So far, I'm fine. Didn't get the flu shot....never have. When I cared for my elderly mothers years back, she was hospitalized after getting her flu shot, she got so sick from it.
Not saying I'm for it or against it, but I am saying I really don't understand it, and I avoid it for myself.
The state of Colorado made it mandatory to get a flu shot if you work in the health field.....or you HAVE to wear a mask at work all the time. I got a flu shot and I got the flu. But wearing a mask all day is not for me.
Although rare, the shot itself can kill.