CDC: 36 states including Alberta have discovered widespread influenza transmission

>CDC: 36 states including Alberta have discovered widespread influenza transmission. This year’s flu season started earlier, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminded the public to start getting flu shots...

This year’s flu season started early, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminded the public to start getting flu shots.

As cold weather sweeps across much of the United States this winter, flu vaccine uptake is also low. Data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday (December 29) showed that a total of 36 states received reports of widespread influenza spread last week, of which 21 states had a large number of cases.

In Arizona, as of December, 2,976 cases of influenza have been confirmed, an increase of 758% over the same period last year. Among them, a baby girl and a 20-year-old woman died of influenza.

The flu season in the United States usually starts in October and lasts until May, and the peak flu season usually occurs around February.

Common flu symptoms include fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue accompanied by a cough and sore throat. These symptoms usually go away within a few days, but can be particularly dangerous for the elderly, young children, pregnant women, and people with respiratory problems, as it can develop into pneumonia.

Currently, flu deaths have been reported in different states. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, at least 10 people (under 65 years old) died in California. Local health officials in Delaware said a 47-year-old man and an 83-year-old woman died. In North Carolina, 12 people died, including one child. In South Carolina, seven people (65 and older) have died.

The latest influenza virus testing by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the most common type of influenza virus is influenza A (H3). The effectiveness of influenza vaccines has always been a topic of public concern.

Jennifer Radtke, director of infectious disease prevention at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said that soon the CDC will see whether this year's flu virus is a good match for the vaccine.

She said: "The effectiveness of the flu vaccine is usually between 10% and 33%. If the vaccine does not match the influenza virus, more cases will occur."

A recent CDC study also showed that the effectiveness of the vaccine varies from year to year, but when the circulating virus matches the vaccine virus, the flu vaccine can usually reduce the overall risk of disease by 40% to 60%.

In view of this, U.S. health officials say that although the flu vaccine is not guaranteed to be completely effective, starting to get the flu vaccine now is still a way to combat the virus.

Individual health insurance plans include full coverage of the flu vaccine, and the American Pharmacists Association has issued an announcement that pharmacists in various states can now administer flu vaccinations.

Jason Lind, a pharmacist at the Walgreens pharmacy chain, said: "People walk into pharmacies, especially 24-hour pharmacies, and they can come at any time, and it usually takes 15 minutes (to get vaccinated)."