Ten more children died from influenza in the past week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday, increasing the pediatric death toll from a brutal flu season to 63.
Evidence of flu-like illness is exceeding that of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, and people are being hospitalized at the highest levels recorded since the CDC implemented its tracking standards eight years ago.
Influenza or pneumonia caused one out of every 10 deaths in the U.S. during a week in mid-January, the CDC said in its update. The two are linked in the data because people don’t often die from flu directly, but from flu-related complications or a secondary bacterial infection such as pneumonia.
“Almost everything we’re looking at is bad news,” Acting CDC Director Anne Schuchat said.
Scientists are encouraging all Americans to get vaccinated and avoid the spread of germs, since this flu season could last several more weeks.
“We don’t know if we’ve hit the peak yet,” Dr. Schuchat said.
One bright spot, she said, is that illnesses related to H3N2 is coming down. That strain has been particularly dangerous and resistant to this year’s vaccine.
The H1N1 and “influenza B” strains are taking a toll, however, so the CDC says people should still see value in a flu shot. The B strain, in particular, appears to be surging.
The CDC said deaths related to flu and pneumonia accounted to 10.1 percent of fatalities in the week ending Jan. 20, or well above the 7.3-percent threshold used to determine whether there is an epidemic.
Agency officials said deaths in children are the only ones reported to CDC, so it doesn’t have a tally of fatalities in all ages.
It does not know what proportion of the children who died had received a flu shot, though in previous seasons, 80-85 percent of flu-related pediatric deaths are in unvaccinated children.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.