A Particularly Nasty Flu Season

A Particularly Nasty Flu Season.
The United States is in the engross of a strikingly nasty flu season, federal health officials said Friday, due - in solid part - to a strain of the virus that's hitting the elderly and children principally hard. That strain is called H3N2 flu, and it's not a good match to the strains in this year's flu vaccine. As a result, thousands of society are being hospitalized and 26 children have died from flu so far, Dr Tom Frieden, steersman of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a high noon press briefing Brand Club. "Years that have H3N2 predominance keep an eye on to have more hospitalizations and more deaths.

Frieden said hospitalization rates for flu have risen to 92 per 100000 plebeians this season, primarily due to the H3N2 strain. This compares to a typical year of 52 hospitalizations per 100000 people. In an commonplace year, more than 200000 people are hospitalized for flu and the bunch of children's deaths varies from as few as 30 to as many as 170 or more, CDC officials said rxlistplus com. Although it's the midst of the flu season, the CDC continues to recommend that everybody 6 months and older get a flu shot.

The reason: there's more than one type of flu exceed circulating, and the vaccine protects against at least three strains of circulating virus. Frieden also stressed the gain of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (inhaled zanamivir), especially this year. "Treatment with antiviral flu drugs is even more material this year. These drug work, but they aren't being reach-me-down nearly enough. They can reduce symptoms, shorten the duration of illness and prevent serious complications.

They could even bail your life". To be most effective these drugs need to be given early, at the sign of first symptoms. Common flu symptoms can take in fever, chills, cough, sore throat, muscle aches and fatigue. Vomiting and diarrhea are seen more often in children with flu than adults. People at jeopardy of flu-related complications comprise young children, especially those younger than 2 years; people over 65; in the women; and people with chronic health problems, such as asthma, heart disease and weakened safe systems, according to the CDC.

Most people recover from the flu anywhere from a few days to a bit less than two weeks. But others tolerate life-threatening complications, such as pneumonia, according to the CDC. Warning signs of credible complications include a cough that disrupts sleep, a fever that doesn't come down with treatment, or increased shortness of breath, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. Flu seasons are unpredictable, according to the CDC. Each year, on average, 5 percent to 20 percent of the US folk gets the flu buy 3c-e usa. During a 30-year period, from 1976 to 2006, estimates of flu-related deaths in the United States ranged from a moo of about 3000 to a outrageous of about 49000 people, the intermediation said.