The winter season can sparkle with family fun, special snowy vacations and wonderful cold weather sports. School children are deeply involved in their studies and businesses are gearing up for the financial developments of 2014. None of these activities, work or play, are fun if you are sick.
Have you heard that half the people of the United States are being, or will be, or have been, exposed to heavy influenza activity this wintry season? The virulent strain causing most of the cases is the same one that caused the worldwide pandemic in 2009: H1N1 virus! Have you had your vaccination?
How Bad Is This Year’s Flu?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are constantly tracking the severity and number of cases of the flu, weekly.
1. Experts explain: “The Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in the Influenza Division at CDC collects, compiles and analyzes information on influenza activity year round in the United States and produces FluView, a weekly influenza surveillance report.”
2. The U.S. influenza surveillance system is a collaborative effort between CDC and state, local, and territorial health departments, as well as public health and clinical laboratories, vital statistics offices, healthcare providers, clinics, and emergency departments. All of these people are looking out for you and your family. All of them hope you take the time to get vaccinated.
The experts at the CDC have announced that Flu activity is already very widespread in the South. Both CDC Experts and The Florida Lung Doctors want you to know that “thousands of people die every year from flu, which peaks in the United States between October and March. The flu is spreading quickly this season, with 25 states already reporting a heavy onslaught of cases.”
Dr. Joe Bresee, chief of Epidemiology and Prevention in the CDC’s Influenza Division, recently said, “We are seeing a big uptick in disease in the past couple of weeks. The virus is all around the United States right now.”
Can We Learn From History?
Here is a sad statistical story: the year was 2009-2010. The killer was the H1N1 virus, alias, the swine flu. It began in Central Mexico, and spread like wild-fire to 74 other countries. The death toll for this flu pandemic was 284,000 people. Remember, these aren’t just numbers. They are, or were, people.
Get Extra Protection: You can check reports and follow the path of the flu by visiting this reliable online source.
At the time of writing this blog, Texas has been hit severely with flu, and 25 people have died there, according to local experts at the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an “influenza health alert” on Dec. 20, advising clinicians to consider antiviral treatment, even if an initial rapid-flu test comes back negative.”
Here in Orlando, The Florida Lung Doctors advise you to take your flu shots if you have not done so. Unfortunately, flu season is not over.
“On average, CDC says 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu each season. It kills between 3,000 and 49,000 people a year,” according to experts at University of Michigan Hospital, where a dozen people are hovering on life support machines because of their severity of their flu infections.
This year’s strain seems especially hard on children, so we urge you to protect your family with flu shots and good cleanliness habits. Read more about ways to avoid the flu with one of The Florida Lung Doctors’ most recent, previous blogs.
Do not let the flu spoil your family’s winter time fun! Thank you for reading our blog, and we hope you will drop in often to find out the latest news and inspiring stories behind the work of lung doctors everywhere.
