CDC: This flu season worst since 2009 swine flu pandemic

[left-of-center2012]

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/371021-cdc-this-flu-season-worst-since-2009-swine-flu-pandemic

Federal health officials warned Friday that this year's flu outbreak is more severe than any other since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, and that its intensity is still increasing.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a phone call with reporters that the number of people experiencing flu-like symptoms is increasing. Hospitalizations for influenza are also rising.

What's more, flu activity has stayed at the same level nationwide for about three weeks, said Dr. Dan Jernigan, the director of the CDC’s Influenza Division. That sets it apart from many flu seasons, in which activity wanes in certain parts of the U.S.

"We often see different parts of the country 'light up' at different times, but for the past 3 weeks, the entire country has been experiencing lots of flu, all at the same time," he said.

The deaths of seven children from the flu were reported to the CDC this week, bringing the total number of child deaths this flu season to 37, CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald said.

Perhaps driving the latest increase in those reporting flu-like symptoms is the influx of kids returning to school after winter vacations, Jernigan said, pointing to a higher rate of flu cases in children.

The number of people who have gone to see a doctor for influenza-like illness also rose this week to 6.6 percent. That means that 6.6 percent of all people who went to clinics or emergency rooms had a flu-like illness.

The number of people going to see doctors for such illnesses is at its highest rate since the 2009 swine flu outbreak, when it rose to 7.7 percent, Jernigan said.

Most people with the flu this season are infected with the H3N2 virus, one of the most severe — and deadly — strains of the seasonal flu. What's more, Jernigan said, the 2017 to 2018 flu season likely still has weeks to go.

"In seasons where H3N2 is the main cause of influenza, we see more cases, more visits to the doctor, more hospitalizations and more deaths, especially among older people," he said.

[Tree-Hugger]

1. I was just at the ER a few days ago

My little girl had appendicitis and we had to go to the local ER and then the children's hospital. The waiting room of the local ER had 60+ people. They were overloaded. The triage nurse said people were waiting upwards of 8+ hours to be seen and other emergent cases - such as my kid's appendicitis - were waiting 3 or more hours. Then at the children's hospital they were overloaded as well, though more managed. They had very strict visitor rules and were screening visitors for symptoms and turning loved ones away.

I've had many trips to the ER in recent years due to my medical conditions and I have never seen a waiting room so packed.

Fingers crossed no one in my family gets it since the vaccine isn't as effrctive this year.

[left-of-center2012]

2. "... the vaccine isn't as effective this year"

No, but I'm hoping it's better than no vaccination.
Plus I'm hoping the pneumonia shot I got a couple years ago helps if I do get sick.
I heard many who have died of the flu did so after it turned into pneumonia.

[Tree-Hugger]

10. Same

I heard it can lessen the symptoms even if you do get the flu. Still better than nothing.

I have heard the same about pneumonia after the flu.

[Horse with no Name]

15. Per my physician--it is a complete miss for Flu A

But....it is on spot for Flu B.

So it is effective.

[smirkymonkey]

6. That is frightening! Appendicitis can be very serious if not treated in time. I hope your

little girl is ok. Things just seem to be getting worse and worse. I am afraid if there is ever a serious pandemic our health system will not be equipped to deal with it. This is just slightly worse than usual flu season and they already seem over-burdened.

[Tree-Hugger]

12. Thank you

She is doing very well. We are lucky to have a great children's hospital here. She breezed through her appendectomy and is recovering nicely.

I share your worry about our health system and what would happen with a severe pandemic.

[Yavin4]

3. Waiting for Trump to take credit

"I had the best flu season since 2009."

[Drahthaardogs]

4. LOL!

[eleny]

5. There's one in every thread!

[CountAllVotes]

7. Swine flu 2009

I fell violently ill in Nov. 2009 and I thought I had the Swine flu.

I called the Dial-a-Nurse that comes with my insurance and they directed me to CALL AN AMBULANCE being I had a high fever, was vomiting and was quickly losing touch with reality it seemed.

So the ambulance arrived and took me to the ER and I was told I likely had the Swine flu. However, it did not explain why I had the severe pain around my lower abdomen and luckily, the ER doctor ordered a CAT scan on me which revealed I had a hole in my large intestine. Peritonitis had set-in and I had 45 mins. to live.

I was transferred to another hospital and operated on at 3:00 a.m. and yes, I obviously lived minus lots of internal body parts gone from the surgery (appendix included). The bills added up to over $750,000.00 by the time it was finally over after nine mos., three surgeries and lots of suffering.

So I did not have the Swine flu!

My message is, if you are sick and in a condition that seems serious, GO to the ER as it might be something other than the flu!!!!

[left-of-center2012]

8. I too had severe abdominal pain and went to a E.R.

I kept telling the E.R. doctor my pain seemed centered near my belly button.
But when she poked me lower, and on my left side, it was painful there as well.
She suspected I was constipated and she prescribed Mira-lax, an over the counter laxative, which my insurance did pay for since it was prescribed.

Previously an urgent care doctor had prescribed codeine for the pain (with no follow up), and that can cause constipation.

The severe abdominal pain continued with me being prescribed more codeine until I saw a gastroenterologist who did an exam by putting a scope down my throat into my stomach and discovered I had severe bleeding as a result of the Xarelto medication I was on.

From the time I began having pain to when they discovered and treated me for the stomach bleeding took three months.

Had I been hospitalized, I could have gotten in on the lawsuit against Xarelto.

Fortunately I have recovered.

[Horse with no Name]

16. I wasn't as fortunate. I had Swine Flu

I was hospitalized for 2 weeks and lost 50% of my lung function.

It was horrible. It took months to minimally recover and several years to get back to baseline of my lung levels.

I don't play with the flu. Bad stuff.

[MissB]

9. A friends nephew died yesterday of the flu

He was 5.

[left-of-center2012]

11. A friend of mine died a couple years ago of the flu

It took about 5 days from getting sick to dying.

[smirkymonkey]

13. How sad! The poor young boy. It's tragic when anyone dies of the flu, but

especially so when someone so young dies. My condolences to you and your friend.

[Rollo]

14. Unstated in all this is the REASON why the flu vaccine is not as effective as it should be...

The problem centers around the use of chicken egg embryos to grow the virus.

Specifically, the one virus with the most severe effects: H3N2.

What happened is that this virus has the ability to mutate to grow better in different media. When the H3N2 virus mutates to grow better in a chicken embryo, it gains a protein on its shell that the wild virus doesn't have. Unfortunately when humans get exposed to the wild virus, their immune system doesn't recognize it as something it's been primed to defeat via immunization, and thus the vaccine is far less effective against the H3N2 virus.

There IS a way to create a vaccine that IS far more effective against the H3N2 virus, but it involves growing it not in eggs but in other types of cells, such as cultured insect cells. The gotcha there is that the flu vaccine industry is set up to produce large amounts of vaccine via the egg method. It is not set up to produce it via other types of cells. And it will be costly to switch from eggs to a more effective growth medium.

I went round and round with my HMO this year to try to get them to give me the non-egg vaccine. I finally got my doctor to approve it, but when I went in for the shot, the tech gave me the wrong (egg-based) vaccine anyway, despite my repeated questions to him that it was the "no egg" vaccine and I even mentioned the brand of vaccine grown in insect cells. I also marked on the vaccination form that I have a severe egg allergy (I don't, but I wanted the more effective vaccine). Well, he ignored that form, didn't check that my doctor has prescribed it, lied about the "no egg" and the vaccine name. Apparently all he knew how to do was to grab any old vaccine, swab arms, do the injection, and apply a little band-aid. After the injection I asked to see the syringe, and sure enough it was the type grown in eggs. I was livid, not just because I didn't get the protection I felt I needed, but also because if I indeed had a severe egg allergy that idiot could have killed me. I let the HMO know in no uncertain terms that they were going to kill somebody with their defective system.

Anyway, that's just my gripe against this HMO and that location. It doesn't change the fact that millions of people are getting vaccinated with a prep that is at best 10% effective against H3N2, and nobody in government seems to care enough to fund an effort to fix this problem and make an effective flu vaccine.

No wonder so many people are dying this year from the flu!!!