With hospitalizations ticking up, flu season appears off to an early start
There are increasing signs that flu season is off to a very early start in parts of the United States, with the cumulative hospitalization rate higher than it has been at this point in the fall for more than a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.
In its weekly FluView report, the CDC estimated that there have already been 880,000 influenza illnesses, 6,900 flu hospitalizations, and 360 deaths caused by flu this season, which started at the beginning of October. It is unusual for the CDC to have enough data to issue estimates on the burden of flu this early in the season.
These figures are estimates, based on data from a flu hospitalization surveillance network of acute care hospitals in 14 states. Flu activity is currently highest in south-central and southeast parts of the country, and New York. It is also picking up along the Eastern Seaboard.
The CDC also reported the death of a child, the first pediatric flu death of the new flu season. It occurred in the week ending Oct. 8.
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