CDC: Mild flu season apparently winding down
April 7, 2009 By MIKE STOBBE , AP Medical Writer(AP) -- The flu season is winding down and turning out to be one of the mildest in years, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One possible explanation: The flu vaccine generally was well-matched to the circulating flu viruses, CDC officials said.
The CDC compares flu seasons by looking at adult deaths from the flu or pneumonia in 122 cities, and at reports of flu-related deaths in children. Both were down significantly this year compared with the severe 2007-2008 season.
The flu causes 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths annually, according to official estimates. The elderly, young children and people with chronic illnesses are at greatest risk.
Vaccination is the best protection, health officials say. A record 146 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed for the 2008-2009 season, although the CDC doesn't have data on how many people actually got them.
Flu vaccines are often between 70 percent and 90 percent effective. In the 2007-2008 season, the vaccine was only 44 percent effective. No such figure has been released for this year, but tests indicate the vaccine matches up well to at least two of the flu viruses going around.
The main kind of flu virus circulating this year was a Type A H1N1. Flu seasons in which an H1N1 predominates are generally milder than seasons when a Type A H3N2 does, said Dr. Alicia Fry, a CDC epidemiologist.
This flu season was perhaps toughest on doctors.
In recent years, doctors routinely prescribed a drug called Tamiflu to flu patients. But this season's H1N1 strain has been resistant to that drug. Only a few years ago, CDC officials announced that H3N2 flu had become resistant to two other antiviral medications, rimantadine and amantadine.
Lately, doctors have had to use a patchwork of medications and hope for the best.
"It was more challenging" this year, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, an Atlanta infectious disease physician.
©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-
Four Mass. children die of flu virus
Mar 19, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Flu shot protects kids -- even during years with a bad vaccine match
Nov 03, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Major flu strain resistant to widely used antiviral drug
Jan 15, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
CDC Recommends All Kids be Vaccinated Against Flu
Sep 12, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
FDA approves 2006 strain of flu vaccine
Aug 03, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor
(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 09, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (53) |
21
|
Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly
(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...
Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life
Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Feb 06, 2012 |
not rated yet |
13
To perform with less effort, practice beyond perfection
Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 09, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (15) |
6
|
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation
Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher
The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...
Apr 07, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
www.vitamindcouncil.com
Apr 08, 2009
Rank: not rated yet