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It’s only just beginning, but the 2019-2020flu seasonis already off to a potentially record-setting pace afteran “atypically” early start.
According tonew numbers from the Centers for Disease Control, there have been an estimated 6.4 million cases of the flu and 2,900 flu-related deaths since Sept. 29, when they start tracking the flu. Over the last week, visits to the doctor for flu symptoms jumped from 5.1 percent of Americans to 6.9, a significant increase.
“This is definitely an earlier season,” CDC press officer Scott Pauley tells PEOPLE, “[and] it’s definitely a concern that we’ve been maintaining it for so long. We’re at eight weeks of sustained activity above the baseline.”
“If this continues to raise and increase, we could end up having an extremely severe season, one of the more severe ones we’ve had in a while,” he says.
Part of the reason whythis season is so strong, so early, is because the flu has primarily been a strain of influenza B, which is unusual for this time of the year.
Though influenzas A and B have similar symptoms, B is less common overall, and people likely have built up fewer antibodies to fight that strain of the flu.
St. Judes Children’s Hospital
Pauley says the rise of influenza B this season is also the likely why there have already been 27 pediatric flu-related deaths — the highest number at this time of the year in 16 seasons.
“While children are likely to have had some exposure to influenza A from their parents, they’re not as likely to have been in contact with influenza B, so it’s going to have more of an impact on them,” he says.
“There are four components in the vaccine, with two influenza A antigens and two influenza B antigens. We’re having an early flu B season, and last yearwe almost saw two different flu seasonswith four different strains. So if that happens again it may well be with a virus that’s better matched with the vaccine,” he says. “It’s certainly not too late.”
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People should also be aware that, unfortunately, even if they get the flu at the start of the season they could get it again.
But, again — even if this year’s flu vaccine isn’t ideally matched to the strain that is circulating now, it is extremely important toget the shot.
“The vaccination is the key,” he says. “This is not the perfect way to protect yourself, and just because you get the vaccine does not mean you won’t get the flu, but it’s certainly the best approach.”
And don’t worry: “there’s just no possible way” for people toget the flu from the flu shot.
source: people.com
