There’s more
evidence that this is shaping up to be a nasty flu season, with the
number of states with high flu activity doubling in a week and reports
of the achy, feverish illness spreading widely across the U.S.
Eight
states are now reporting high levels of what’s known as influenza-like
illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Eighteen states
reported widespread flu activity for the week that ended Dec. 8,
according to the agency’s FluView data.
"Today’s report confirms
that the U.S. flu season is off to early start,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas
Frieden said in a statement. “It’s too early to tell how severe our
season might be. However, we know that thousands die and hundreds of
thousands of people are hospitalized with flu each year. Vaccination is
the single most important step we can take to protect ourselves and our
families against infection. It's not too late to get vaccinated before
the flu season peaks.”
-snip-
The good news, though, is that this year’s vaccines are well-matched to the viruses, CDC officials said.
The
eight states with high levels of flu activity include Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Texas.
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