Influenza: Digging in its Viral Heels

There’s one word on the minds of Public Heath professionals nationwide—“flu.” According to the CDC, 41 states are reporting widespread geographic influenza activity and some cities, including Boston, have declared a public health emergency.

“We are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH stated.

This season’s flu is hitting children particularly hard. Over 20 children under the age of 18 have died from complications of the flu.  Thankfully, there are positive trends emerging. It appears that the flu has dropped off in portions of the South and Southeast, according to an article on cnn.com. “[It appears] to have done so because that was where the flu season started earliest,” according a health official interviewed for the story.

View the CDC’s influenza situation update page by clicking here.