[ad_1]
Broken emails
Receive alerts and special reports. News and stories that matter, delivered in the morning on weekdays.
The flu has killed 80,000 people in the past season and put 900,000 people in the hospital, making it the worst influenza season in decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.
The numbers were shocking. So far, CDC has stated that flu kills between 12,000 and 56,000 people a year, depending on the severity of the influenza season, and that 250,000 to 700,000 people are hospitalized for a serious illness.
"It's high, but it's consistent with what we had last season," said CDC flu division director Dr. Daniel Jernigan at NBC News.
The figures for the 2017-2018 influenza season go far beyond that, and federal health officials said bluntly that so many people had been infected and died.
"These 80,000 people died of the flu last year? Guess what? They had it from someone. Someone gave them the flu, "said General Jerome Adams, a surgeon, at a news conference.
These figures included 180 children. "The majority of them were unvaccinated," Adams said. "These are healthy kids who are dying of the flu."
Influenza activity peaked early this year and the virus has infected many people across the country at the same time. Influenza usually strikes first in one region and then another, but last season was marked by widespread influenza activity for weeks.
"The first week of January, I said that the peak was reached. Then, the following week, I said that the peak was reached, "recalled Jernigan. Finally, the CDC stopped predicting a peak as the influenza season continued to deteriorate.
The CDC had already feared a severe flu season because it was the H3N2 strain that was circulating. H3N2 usually hits people over 65 years the hardest. "This virus has hit people in a vulnerable place," said Jernigan.
"Last year, one hundred and eighty families put a child in a grave because of a preventable infection through vaccination."
The CDC does not directly account for adult influenza deaths, but estimates them based on the number of excess deaths during the influenza season.
Adams and other prominent doctors have urged Americans to start getting vaccinated every year and, as happens every year in September, they rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated against the cameras.
"I get vaccinated, so go with me because I could cry," joked Adams. But he alternated the jokes with a serious message: people who do not get the flu shot can pass it on to other people.
"If you're sick, stay home," Adams said. "Employers, tell your employees if they're sick, stay home."
Although the flu vaccine is not as effective as other vaccines, it still significantly reduces the risk of death, said Dr. William Schaffner, Medical Director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
"Even if you get the flu after receiving the vaccine … you may have a less serious illness," Schaffner told the press conference. "As a doctor, I love it when my patients do not contract pneumonia or have to be admitted to the hospital. Nobody wants to be what I call the dreaded grower.
Many people who do not get vaccinated say that a big reason is their doubt about its effectiveness. Adams said that is not a good reason to skip the shot. "That old thing," I got vaccinated against the flu and still have the flu "? Well, what do you know? You are not dead, "he said.
The CDC recommends just about everyone over six months to receive a flu shot every year. Only 46.8% of the population had it last year, the CDC announced Thursday. Vaccination rates ranged from 36% in Nevada to 55% in Rhode Island.
About 58% of children aged 17 and under have been vaccinated. The number of children ages 4 and under who were vaccinated against the flu dropped by 2% from the previous year, the CDC said.
These children are vulnerable and can also infect others, said Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital.
"The children have a lot of snot. They drool a lot and go to school. And when they go to school, they share all those secretions, "said Swanson.
But she became serious too. "One hundred and eighty families put a child in a grave last year because of a preventable infection through vaccination," she said.
The CDC reported that 80% of children who died of the flu last season were not vaccinated.
"Imagine what the parents of these children should feel," Schaffner said.
Influenza can kill the elderly quickly, but it also kills more slowly. "The damage caused by the flu continues long after the acute flu," he said.
"That's why people feel dazed for two weeks or more after coughing."
The virus causes inflammation that affects the blood vessels to the heart and brain. "Influenza can predispose people to heart attacks and strokes and can also lead to a gradual decline in disability," said Schaffner.
"When people who are already frail or marginalized contract the flu, they may never regain their pre-influenza functional level."
According to the CDC, 168 million doses of influenza vaccine will be available this year. There are special vaccines for the elderly and children. there are formulations that have not been made with eggs; and the needle-free FluMist vaccine is back in the mix this year.
Source link
