Flu cases in U.S. hit 15-year high, CDC warns of severe season

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu cases are at a 15-year all-time high in the U.S. The most recent CDC Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report shows 7.8% of visits to a health care provider were for respiratory illness. That’s the worst since the swine flu pandemic in late 2009.

Most of the cases this year are from seasonal flu virus and not a new strain. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, more than 30,000 people have tested positive for the flu in Arizona since the start of the season in October.

Dr. Nick Staab, Assistant Medical Director of Maricopa County Department of Public Health, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the impact of the virus within the U.S.

“Currently, we are about two times higher than what we would expect in a typical year,” Dr. Staab said

The group of people most impacted by the flu virus have been young children. The flu comes in two forms, Influenza A and B, “but we typically this time of year see a surge in Influenza B,” Dr. Staab said. A larger concern is the RSV virus, the symptoms are similar however hard to distinguish in older people.

“The biggest concern with RSV is in the youngest kids, so infants, causes a lot of mucus, a lot of respiratory and breathing problems,” Dr. Staab said.

Dr. Staab also said that there has been an improvement in getting infants vaccinated with the RSV vaccine before they leave the hospital. He said that flu vaccination rates are low and if more people get vaccinated, more people can avoid these diseases.