The most severe flu epidemic in 10 years, the US

The flu epidemic this year in the US can be very serious since the pandemic of swine flu - influenza A (H1N1) in 2009, according to US health officials.

In the US, the number of cases of influenza viruses is on the rise. More worrisome is the increase in hospital admissions and the risk of death.

The flu epidemic this year may be equal to or more than the influenza pandemic in 2014-2015. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the epidemic that year caused 34 million Americans sick, 71,000 hospitalized and about 56,000 people died.

According to Dr. Daniel B. Jernigan, Director of CDC's Flu Division, "At present, we estimate the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are almost the same as those".

According to the CDC report, 7 children died last week, bringing the number of deaths from early 2018 in this pandemic to 37 cases. Currently it is difficult to estimate the number of children killed in this year's flu.

The flu epidemic this year may be equal to or more than the influenza pandemic in 2014-2015.(Illustration).

According to Dr. Jernigan, the reason is that the flu is still ongoing and many authorities do not know the number of children capable of dying at home.

In addition, Dr. Jernigan also advised doctors and pharmacies to check on the vaccinefinder.org website to find vaccine providers for prevention. Some areas have begun to run out of drugs like Tamiflu. Therefore, CDC is trying to provide drugs in the most needed areas.

In 2009, many patients became ill, thus new strains. This year's dominant strain is H3N2. This strain appeared about 50 years and emerged as "Hong Kong Pandemic" in 1968. Dr. Jernigan said that H3N2 was the cause of the 1997-1998 and 2003-2004 pandemics.

This chart describes the percentage of outpatients who were hospitalized due to flu-like symptoms before and during the season.

The chart depicts the percentage of outpatients who were hospitalized due to flu-like symptoms before and during the season.

The number of hospital admissions and deaths in the adult age group may affect the economy more than the number of deaths over 65. This age group is also less protected. Recently, about 41% of people in this age group were not vaccinated, while 57% of people over 65 were vaccinated.

Elderly people are often vaccinated 4 times higher because their immune systems have weakened. Despite all the federal government's efforts, the number of people vaccinated each year has decreased slightly.

In states like California and West Coast, the number of people suffering from diseases is increasing rapidly, four times the number of people admitted to the hospital during the 2014-2015 flu, according to Dr. Jernigan. Meanwhile, Minnesota state is twice as high and New York and Northeastern Zone are approximately the 2014-2015 flu pandemic.

According to the CDC, about 6.6% of patients see doctors showing signs of the flu. In the 2014-2015 flu pandemic, this figure was 6% and translated A (H1N1), this figure was 7.7%.

About 3 weeks earlier, CDC predicted people with the disease to peak during the week between Christmas and New Year. But then, the number of people who have skyrocketed may be due to children starting school again, according to Dr. Jernigan.