Flu instances are hovering in New York and selecting up in different elements of the nation. Consultants fear it will likely be one other unhealthy season. COVID and RSV have been much less of an issue, however they’re additionally on the rise.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It is the vacation season. And with apologies to Andy Williams, it is also the season for sniffles and croupy coughs. This is NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: The flu, COVID-19, RSV. They’re all on the rise once more. However Alicia Budd, an epidemiologist on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, says the flu is de facto main the pack. The flu season began a few weeks sooner than ordinary and is now ramping up large time.
ALICIA BUDD: We’re seeing seasonal influenza growing in most areas of the nation proper now. We’re seeing flu-associated outpatient visits, emergency division visits, hospitalizations and even, to some extent, influenza-associated deaths all growing at this level.
STEIN: A number of states – New York, Louisiana, Colorado – are already getting slammed, and a few consultants fear the U.S. could also be in for one more unhealthy flu season. Andrew Pekosz research respiratory viruses at Johns Hopkins.
ANDREW PEKOSZ: It is very troublesome to foretell the flu season, however proper now we’re at first of what we most likely are going to see is a fairly extreme influenza season.
STEIN: That might be shocking because the final flu season was unhealthy, the worst in a few decade. A record-breaking 288 kids died, and it is uncommon to have back-to-back unhealthy flu years. However the southern hemisphere had a extreme flu season this 12 months, and that is usually a harbinger for the Northern Hemisphere. In truth, the flu is already hitting different elements of the Northern Hemisphere, just like the U.Ok., actually onerous now, too. This is Alicia Budd from the CDC once more.
BUDD: Simply because we had a extreme season final 12 months does not imply that we cannot this 12 months.
STEIN: And that is not all. The dominant flu pressure just lately mutated, serving to the virus evade the immune system and unfold extra simply. This so-called subclade Ok virus does not seem to make individuals sicker. However the extra simply a virus spreads, the extra individuals get sick and the extra individuals get severely unwell. The excellent news is that preliminary proof signifies the flu vaccine ought to nonetheless present first rate safety.
BUDD: It isn’t too late to get vaccinated in any respect. We’re coming into the vacation season when of us are going to be round collectively, so it does proceed to be a really useful preventive motion this season.
STEIN: Together with staying house in case you’re sick, washing your palms lots, and sure, possibly even masking up once more in crowded locations.
Rob Stein, NPR Information.
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