Flu Season Severest in Four Years

This season’s influenza epidemic in the United States was the severest in four years, largely because of the predominance of a more virulent strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. U.S. flu cases appeared earlier than usual last October, peaked in November and December and declined rapidly in the first two months of this year, according to an article published in the CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report. But based on preliminary data from labs, doctors and city and state health officials, “it was comparable to several seasons in the 1990s in which similar influenza virus strains circulated,” the CDC said. The Atlanta-based agency said it had received reports of 142 flu-related deaths in U.S. residents under the age of 18 as of March 27. The CDC had not previously tracked these deaths, so it could not say whether they had increased. Exact figures for flu fatalities among adults are unavailable because doctors are not required to report them. Influenza, which is marked by respiratory inflammation, fever, muscle pain and intestinal tract irritation, kills about 36,000 people and hospitalizes 114,000 in the United States every year. The flu, which typically circulates in the nation from October through March, hit the nation hard late last year before many Americans had been vaccinated. A subsequent rush for shots led to a temporary vaccine shortage in some areas. Drug makers produced 83 million doses of vaccine for the 2003-2004 flu season, fewer than in the previous year when a large number went unused and were thrown away. Efforts to combat the flu were further complicated by the fact that the vaccine was not very good at protecting people against the A (H3N2) flu strain that was most common this season. (Source: Reuters Health, April 2004)

Posted On: 9 April, 2004

Modified On: 5 December, 2013