credit: CDC.gov, click to enlarge
The influenza season is winding down in the U.S. with numbers dropping significantly on a week-by-week basis as seen on the chart above. Currently, New England is the only region reporting widespread flu symptoms.
We are wrapping up our influenza challenge and Sermo physician predictions have continued to track closely to the CDC’s outcomes.
Influenza vaccines haven’t lessened hospitalizations
Researchers published findings this month that found the rate of hospitalization was the same between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients who contracted the flu.
This challenges a long-held belief that vaccinated patients who contract the flu have less life-threatening complications than their unvaccinated counterparts.
The study looked at 4,9996 participants, and of that number 62 patients (or six percent) of the total were hospitalized. There was no statistical difference between patients who had received vaccination with those who had not.
Vaccination coverage up from last year
The CDC reported findings that early season vaccinations were up from the prior year. Adults age 18 and older had an increase of 3.8 percent over last season and overall anyone six months and older had an increase of 3.0 percent. Children had similar vaccination coverage as last season.
Swin flu (H1N1) has been a topic of great discussion on Sermo this season. It is the first year since the 2009-2010 season that swine flu has been the prevalent strain.
An epidemiologist from the University of California Berkley, Tomas Aragon, explains it has to do with what he calls the “flu blacklist.” The blacklist refers to people who either 1) did not receive a flu shot or 2) have not been naturally exposed to the virus. These people are the most susceptible to catching the flu when it comes around.
The swine flu virus has only been circulating since the 2009 – 2010 flu season. By contrast, another common virus, the H3N2 has been circulating for 46 years and large portions of the population already have been exposed to it. The likelihood of contracting H1N1 vs. H3N2 is heavily weighted to H1N1 since it has had much less exposure in the general population, i.e. the flu blacklist is greater for swine flu than for more common strains.
As a physician, how have your patients weathered the flu season? Do you think this season was worse than prior years? If you’re an M.D. or D.O. we frequently discuss infectious disease inside Sermo, we’d love to have you join the conversation.
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