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Influenza activity falls in the East, rises sharply in the West

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Influenza activity has decreased in some areas of the United States, but overall, activity remains elevated throughout the country, the CDC reported.

The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) was 4.2% for week 4, which ended on Jan. 26. The national baseline is 2.2%. Twenty-four states and New York City saw high ILI activity and all 10 US regions also reported ILI above region-specific baseline levels.

So far this season, the rate for influenza-associated hospitalizations is 25.9 per 100,000, of which more than 50% were among adults aged 65 and older. The CDC recommends that all people aged 65 and older, as well as other high-risk patients, seek treatment quickly if they develop symptoms.

“Antiviral treatment can avert serious outcomes and should begin as quickly as possible in high-risk persons, included people 65 and older, young children, pregnant women and people with certain underlying conditions like asthma, heart disease, diabetes and neurological disorders,” the CDC said in the FluView report.

The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza was above the epidemic threshold for week 4. There were also eight new influenza-associated pediatric deaths, bringing the total number of pediatric deaths to 45 for this season.

There were 10,581 specimens tested for influenza this week and 25.5% were positive for influenza. So far this season, there have been 551 cases of Influenza A (H1N1), 24,490 cases of influenza A (H3), 11,748 cases of influenza A for which subtyping was not performed and 9,061 cases of influenza B.