#13,202
It's been 12 weeks since the CDC's ILI map (above) has had this little red on it, and while flu remains elevated in some parts of the country, the overall trend continues to decline.
Outpatient visits for influenza-like-illness (ILI) continues above the national baseline (below), but has dropped precipitously over the past 4 weeks.
While there are likely still a few more weeks of flu activity ahead, at least the worst now appears behind us. Some highlights from today's FluView Report follow:
2017-2018 Influenza Season Week 10 ending March 10, 2018
All data are preliminary and may change as more reports are received.Synopsis:
During week 10 (March 4-10, 2018), influenza activity decreased in the United States.
- Viral Surveillance: Overall, influenza A(H3) viruses have predominated this season. However, in recent weeks the proportion of influenza A viruses has declined, and during week 10, the numbers of influenza A and influenza B viruses reported were similar. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza in clinical laboratories decreased.
- Pneumonia and Influenza Mortality: The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was above the system-specific epidemic threshold in the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance System.
- Influenza-associated Pediatric Deaths: Nine influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported.
- Influenza-associated Hospitalizations: A cumulative rate of 89.9 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 population was reported.
- Outpatient Illness Surveillance: The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) was 3.3%, which is above the national baseline of 2.2%. All 10 regions reported ILI at or above region-specific baseline levels. Twelve states experienced high ILI activity; 13 states experienced moderate ILI activity; New York City and 14 states experienced low ILI activity; 11 states experienced minimal ILI activity; and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia had insufficient data.
- Geographic Spread of Influenza: The geographic spread of influenza in Puerto Rico and 26 states was reported as widespread; Guam and 18 states reported regional activity; the District of Columbia and five states reported local activity; one state reported sporadic activity; and the U.S. Virgin Islands reported no activity.
