Shutterstock
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released its most recent FluView report, announcing that flu activity is on the rise, confirming that the 2018-19 flu season has arrived and is in full swing.
The highest hospitalization rate is among children younger than five years of age, currently at about 7.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. A seventh flu-related child fatality was reported this week.
According to the latest activity report by the CDC, the agency informed the public that “CDC monitors and analyzes key flu activity indicators every week.”
In a news release, the CDC said “After sustained elevated activity is observed across key indicators for a number of weeks, flu season is said to have started. Flu activity met those criteria for the week ending December 15 (Week 50).”
Colorado and Georgia ranked the highest in the amount of influenza activity. The next hardest hit states border each other: Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. There is also a similar high level in Alabama, South Carolina and New Jersey.
The next highest level of flu activity is occurring in Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia and New York City.
The states with the lowest cases of the flu are Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Maryland.
The most predominant type of flu viruses so far this season are the influenza H1N1 viruses. However, in different regions of the country, as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, other influenza variants are more prevalent.
In the past three weeks, in the southeastern part of the US or region 4, influenza H3N2 viruses have been on the rise. This region includes: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. These are also the states states that are experiencing the highest levels of flu activity in the nation.
