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| FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013 file photo, Carlos Maisonet, 73, reacts as Dr. Eva Berrios-Colon, a professor at Touro College of Pharmacy, injects him with flu vaccine during a visit to the faculty practice center at Brooklyn Hospital in New York. Health officials say nine more deaths of children from the flu have been reported, bringing the total this flu season to 29. In a typical season, about 100 children die of the flu, so it is not known whether this year will be better or worse than usual. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says half of confirmed flu cases so far are in people 65 and older. |
The number of older people hospitalized with the flu has risen sharply, prompting federal officials to take unusual steps to make more flu medicines available and to urge wider use of them as soon as symptoms appear.
The
U.S. is about halfway through this flu season, and "it's shaping up to
be a worse-than-average season"
and a bad one for the elderly, said Dr.
Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
It's not too late to get a flu
shot, and "if you have symptoms, please stay home from work, keep your
children home from school" and don't spread the virus, he said.
New
figures from the CDC show widespread flu activity in all states but
Tennessee and Hawaii. Some parts of the country are seeing an increase
in flu activity "while overall activity is beginning to go down,"
Frieden said. Flu activity is high in 30 states and New York City, up
from 24 the previous week.
Nine more children
or teens have died of the flu, bringing the nation's total this flu
season to 29. That's close to the 34 pediatric deaths reported during
all of the last flu season, although that one was unusually light. In a
typical season, about 100 children die of the flu and officials said
there is no way to know whether deaths this season will be higher or
lower than usual.
The government doesn't keep a
running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills
about 24,000 people most years.
So far, half
of confirmed flu cases are in people 65 and older. Lab-confirmed flu
hospitalizations totaled 19 for every 100,000 in the population, but 82
per 100,000 among those 65 and older, "which is really quite a high
rate," Frieden said.
"We expect to see both
the number and the rates of both hospitalizations and deaths rise
further in the next week or so as the flu epidemic progresses,'" so
prompt treatment is key to preventing deaths, he said.
About
90 percent of flu deaths are in the elderly; the very young and people
with other health problems such as diabetes are also at higher risk.
If
you're worried about how sick you are and are in one of these risk
groups, see a doctor, Frieden urged. One third to one half of people are
not getting prompt treatment with antiviral medicines, he said.
Two
drugs - Tamiflu and Relenza - can cut the severity and risk of death
from the flu but must be started within 48 hours of first symptoms to do
much good. Tamiflu is available in a liquid form for use in children
under 1, and pharmacists can reformulate capsules into a liquid if
supplies are short in an area, said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, head of the
Food and Drug Administration.
To help avoid a
shortage, the FDA is letting Tamiflu's maker, Genentech, distribute 2
million additional doses of capsules that have an older version of
package insert.
"It is fully approved, it is
not outdated," just lacks information for pharmacists on how to mix it
into a liquid if needed for young children, she said.
This
year's flu season started about a month earlier than normal and the
dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker.
Vaccinations are recommended for anyone 6 months or older. There's still
plenty of vaccine - an update shows that 145 million doses have been
produced, "twice the supply that was available only several years ago,"
Hamburg said.
About 129 million doses have
been distributed already, and a million doses are given each day,
Frieden said. The vaccine is not perfect but "it's by far the best tool
we have to prevent influenza," he said.
Carlos
Maisonet, 73, got a flu shot this week at New York's Brooklyn Hospital
Center at the urging of his wife, who was vaccinated in August.
"This is his first time getting the flu shot," said his wife, Zulma Ramos.
Last
week, the CDC said the flu again surpassed an "epidemic" threshold,
based on monitoring of deaths from flu and a frequent complication,
pneumonia. The flu epidemic happens every year and officials say this
year's vaccine is a good match for strains that are going around.
