Early estimates of the flu vaccine show that it has been just 23 percent effective at preventing doctor visits for all ages.
The flu vaccine is not the worst ever, as one vaccine this decade has been as low at 10 percent effective, but the low totals are enough for the Centers for Disease Control to urge doctors to increase antiviral prescriptions should a patient show signs of flu.
The weakness of the vaccine is blamed on the prevalence of the H3N2 strain of flu that is circulating most among citizens.
“Physicians should be aware that all hospitalized patients and all outpatients at high risk for serious complications should be treated as soon as possible with one of three available influenza antiviral medications if influenza is suspected, regardless of a patient’s vaccination status and without waiting for confirmatory testing,” said Joe Bresee, branch chief in the CDC’s Influenza Division.
The vaccine was showing 26 percent effectiveness in children six months through 17 years but only 14 percent for adults over 50.
The flu season is being called “moderately severe” by the CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control has officially declared a flu epidemic.
The number of states reporting high levels of flu jumped from 13 to 22 last week and the CDC says there are now flu outbreaks in every region of the country.
The CDC also said that 15 children have died as a result of this year’s flu outbreak, 6 of them in Tennessee alone. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital has reported 442 children with flu already this year.
ABC Chief Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser said on Good Morning America that about a hundred children a year die from the flu. He said that children, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system are at highest danger for death.
The CDC says the H3N2 subtype is the strain in 90 percent of confirmed flu cases.
Dr. Besser said that the flu season has been striking earlier during the last few years and he called it a “worrying trend.”
He advised anyone in a high risk category to get a flu shot.
The Centers for Disease Control says that it’s too late in the flu season to create a vaccine to fight the predominant strain of flu virus in the United States.
The strain, influenza A (H3N2) has mutated since the current flu shots were created and the current shots are only partially effective in containing the virus.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said it would take up to four months to create a new flu vaccine even if newer technologies are used in creation.
Doctors say that the H3N2 strain has been especially severe when dominant and that without good match in a vaccine the likelihood of increased hospitalizations and deaths significantly increases.
The CDC is still recommending a flu shot because they say it could provide partial protection against H3N2. They also say that if someone comes seriously ill with the flu it’s vital they be taken to a hospital for treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control is noticing a disturbing trend in the current flu season.
The CDC says that significantly more adults between 18 and 64 have been hospitalized because of the flu than in previous years. According to their weekly survey of the flu, more than 61.5 percent of hospitalized patients were between the 18 to 64 age group, an 80 percent increase from last year.
Almost 2,500 specimens sent to the CDC for testing that showed positive for the flu. Of that group, almost 96% tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu.
The alarm from the CDC is echoing among medical providers who are seeing deaths among previously healthy young adults. Last week a 29-year-old mother of three died just a few days after exhibiting flu symptoms. A 41-year-old man also died from the flu.
The CDC says the country has not yet reached epidemic level but the number of states showing widespread influenza rose from 25 to 35 last week.
A 15-year-old Australian girl is suffering from a rare form of narcolepsy after receiving a flu shot.
Chloe Glasson is one of 100 people confirmed worldwide to develop narcolepsy after being injected with the anti-swine flu vaccination Pandemrix.
“She has gone from being a bright, outgoing girl to one who cannot go out on her own,” Chloe’s mother, Rebecca Glasson, told News Limited. “She doesn’t doze for more than a couple of hours at a time, but she can have disturbing dreams.”
GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of Pandemrix, said they are researching why their drug is causing narcolepsy in some patients. GSK said they hope their ongoing research will provide more answers.
The CDC recommends flu shots for anyone older than 6 months.
The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that flu is now widespread in over half the United States.
The CDC says that a majority of the cases is the H1N1 virus that caused a worldwide pandemic in 2009.
The flu peaks in the United States between October and March. The CDC said that the spread this year is quick with at least 25 states having confirmed cases.
The CDC says at least six children in the United States have died from H1N1 and cannot say how many adults may have died from it as they do not track adult deaths from the flu. Texas has been particularly hard hit with 25 deaths this flu season.
Texas officials have told health care providers in the state to begin anti-viral treatments even if rapid flu tests come back negative and a patient is showing signs of the flu.
Twenty-four flights were canceled on Sunday and Monday after flu-stricken pilots and flight attendants working for Alaska Airlines called in sick.
According to Alaska spokeswoman Bobbie Egan, approximately 270 passengers were affected by canceled flights.
Off-duty pilots and flight attendants volunteered to work while their colleagues were out sick according to Egan.
The airline anticipates a less busy Tuesday, and says it probably won’t have to cancel any more flights due to illness.
Although flu season is usually at its worst in January or February, health officials in Pennsylvania report flu outbreaks in at least half of the regions of the state.
There have been nearly 1,200 cases of influenza between September 29 and December 21 with the worst hit areas in western Pennsylvania according to the State Health Department.
Last year’s flu season put 381,000 people in the hospital nationwide, which is the most since
2005 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers have borrowed tools used by weather forecasters to create a system that could predict weeks in advance the peak of a city’s seasonal flu outbreak.
The scientists at Columbia University in New York say having greater advance warning of the timing and intensity of outbreaks could help cut down on the number of cases.
The system combines data from Google Flu Trends, which tracks search inquiries for flu related search information with data from the Centers for Disease Control. The system then estimates the number of flu-like illnesses that are likely to actually be cases of the flu.
The system will also have information about how the flu spreads through populations.
A study conducted in 2012 showed the system had a 60% accuracy rate in predicting the time and intensity of outbreaks.
The researchers say they plan to put the system online to allow people the chance to track the flu in their area.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that a flu shot helps seniors lower their risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The study followed more than 6,000 patients with an average age of 67. More than a third of the people in the survey suffered from some form of heart disease. Those who had been given a flu shot had an almost 2% less risk of a heart attack or stroke than those who did not take the injection.
“The study is important because it reconfirms that there are benefits to getting the flu vaccination,” Dr. David Frid of the Cleveland Clinic told Fox News. “In people who have recently had a cardiac event…it reduces the likelihood of their having some type of cardiovascular complication if they do develop the flu.”
The study was conducted specifically involving those who contracted the influenza virus and not the common cold.
Dr. Frid said that getting the flu does not directly cause heart disease but that the body’s stress from being sick from the flu can raise blood pressure and cause other cardiac complications.
