Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

US flu season off to a fast start  as other viruses spread<!-- wp:html --><div> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">NEW YORK (AP) — The flu season in the US is starting unusually fast, contributing to a fall mix of viruses filling hospitals and doctors’ waiting rooms.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">Reports of flu are already high in 17 states, and hospitalizations haven’t been this high this early since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, there have been an estimated 730 flu deaths, including at least two children.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">The winter flu season usually picks up in December or January.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">“We’re seeing more cases than we would expect at this point,” said Dr. Jose Romero of the CDC Friday.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">A busy flu season is not unexpected. The country experienced two mild seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts fear the flu could make a strong comeback as a COVID-weary public has moved away from masks and other measures to curb the spread of respiratory viruses.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">Community Montessori School in New Albany, Indiana, switched to virtual teaching at the end of the week because so many students were sick with the flu. From Monday, the 500 students of the school will wear masks again.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">“Everyone just wants kids on campus, that’s for sure,” said the school’s principal, Burke Fondren. “We will do what we have to do.”</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">There may be some good news: COVID-19 cases are trending downward and have leveled off in the past three weeks, Romero said. </p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">And in a few parts of the country, health officials think they may be seeing early signs that a wave of another respiratory virus may be starting to subside. RSV or respiratory syncytial virus<!-- -->, is a common cause in children of cold symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever. As RSV continues to rise nationally, preliminary data suggests a decline in the Southeast, Southwest and in an area that includes the Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas, CDC officials said. </p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">Experts think infections from RSV have increased recently as children are now more vulnerable and no longer protected from common insects as they were during pandemic lockdowns. Also, the virus, which usually affects children 1 and 2 years old, is now making more children up to the age of 5 sick.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">The beds at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital have been full for 54 days.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">“The curves are all going up for RSV and the flu,” said Dr. John Cunningham, Comer’s chief physician. </p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">RSV diseases appear to be unusually serious, he added.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">Comer has had to decline transfer requests from other hospitals because there was no space. Hospitals in the Chicago area could have transferred children to Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, but that has stopped. “They don’t have any beds anymore,” Cunningham said.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">There is no vaccine against RSV yet<!-- -->but there are shots for flu<!-- --> and Covid-19. Health officials say flu vaccinations in both children and adults have declined compared to before the pandemic, although the number of children has risen since last year.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">So far this season there have been an estimated 1.6 million flu illnesses and 13,000 hospitalizations. Flu activity is most intense in some of the areas where RSV is fading, including the Southeast, according to CDC data.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">____</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">Babwin reported from Chicago. Tom Davies in Indianapolis contributed to this report.</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">____</p> <p class="Component-root-0-2-46 p Component-p-0-2-37">The Associated Press Health & Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</p> </div><!-- /wp:html -->

NEW YORK (AP) — The flu season in the US is starting unusually fast, contributing to a fall mix of viruses filling hospitals and doctors’ waiting rooms.

Reports of flu are already high in 17 states, and hospitalizations haven’t been this high this early since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, there have been an estimated 730 flu deaths, including at least two children.

The winter flu season usually picks up in December or January.

“We’re seeing more cases than we would expect at this point,” said Dr. Jose Romero of the CDC Friday.

A busy flu season is not unexpected. The country experienced two mild seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts fear the flu could make a strong comeback as a COVID-weary public has moved away from masks and other measures to curb the spread of respiratory viruses.

Community Montessori School in New Albany, Indiana, switched to virtual teaching at the end of the week because so many students were sick with the flu. From Monday, the 500 students of the school will wear masks again.

“Everyone just wants kids on campus, that’s for sure,” said the school’s principal, Burke Fondren. “We will do what we have to do.”

There may be some good news: COVID-19 cases are trending downward and have leveled off in the past three weeks, Romero said.

And in a few parts of the country, health officials think they may be seeing early signs that a wave of another respiratory virus may be starting to subside. RSV or respiratory syncytial virus, is a common cause in children of cold symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever. As RSV continues to rise nationally, preliminary data suggests a decline in the Southeast, Southwest and in an area that includes the Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas, CDC officials said.

Experts think infections from RSV have increased recently as children are now more vulnerable and no longer protected from common insects as they were during pandemic lockdowns. Also, the virus, which usually affects children 1 and 2 years old, is now making more children up to the age of 5 sick.

The beds at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital have been full for 54 days.

“The curves are all going up for RSV and the flu,” said Dr. John Cunningham, Comer’s chief physician.

RSV diseases appear to be unusually serious, he added.

Comer has had to decline transfer requests from other hospitals because there was no space. Hospitals in the Chicago area could have transferred children to Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, but that has stopped. “They don’t have any beds anymore,” Cunningham said.

There is no vaccine against RSV yetbut there are shots for flu and Covid-19. Health officials say flu vaccinations in both children and adults have declined compared to before the pandemic, although the number of children has risen since last year.

So far this season there have been an estimated 1.6 million flu illnesses and 13,000 hospitalizations. Flu activity is most intense in some of the areas where RSV is fading, including the Southeast, according to CDC data.

____

Babwin reported from Chicago. Tom Davies in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

____

The Associated Press Health & Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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