News
Report: Flu Cases on the Rise
January 7, 2019After a slow start to the influenza season, the number of states experiencing high flu activity increased from nine to 19 in the week ending December 29, 2018, the last reporting week, according to the weekly flu report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The 19 states experiencing high flu activity include: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Although H1N1 viruses have been the most commonly identified flu viruses nationally, H3N2 viruses have been most common in the southeastern region of the United States.
The proportion of people seeing their health care provider for influenza-like illness was 4.1 percent, above the national baseline of 2.2 percent. Two influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC in the last reporting week, bringing the total of pediatric deaths up to 13 for the 2018-2019 season.
