States across the U.S. are reporting rising rates of influenza-like illness, hinting that flu season is starting early this year.
Flu season is off to an unusually early start in the U.S., with Southeastern and South Central states currently reporting the highest rates of infection in the country, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
The CDC monitors for probable flu activity in part by tracking the rate of doctor's visits for influenza-like illnesses in different states and jurisdictions, such as Washington D.C."Influenza-like illnesses" include respiratory illnesses that involve a fever plus a cough or sore throat, so this metric may also capture illnesses due to the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus , for example.
"So we know that this virus is now spreading out in the community already," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee, told CNN Health ."It's gathering speed already. It looks to me to be about a month early," compared with prior flu seasons.
The seasonal flu shot protects against four types of influenza virus, according to the CDC: the influenza A subtypes H1N1 and H3N2, and the influenza B Victoria and Yamagata lineages, which refer to branches of the influenza family tree. Influenza A viruses present the biggest challenge to the makers of the annual flu shot, mostly because the viruses mutate the fastest out of the flu subtypes included in the vaccine.
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