Zoonotic Swine Flu News since 6 till 15 Feb 2020

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Elevates Flu Level to 'Very High' [framinghamsource.com, 15 Feb 2020]

by Aimee Siers

BOSTON ? Influenza severity for Massachusetts has increased from high to very high, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The percentage of influenza-like illness visits for Massachusetts has increased and is higher than the previous two years for the same week of February, reported the state’s department of public health.

Overall influenza-like illness activity for Massachusetts remains very high, said the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That is the highest severity level the state reports.

And it is very high in MetroWest and Framingham too.

The percent of influenza-associated hospitalizations in Massachusetts has continued to increase in recent weeks.

In the 2019-2020 flu season, more influenza B than influenza A positive specimens have been reported by hospitals and outpatient facilities in Massachusetts.

The number of influenza A positive laboratory tests reported to the state increased by 16% while the number of influenza B positive laboratory tested decreased by 14%, compared to last week.

All influenza strains that have been characterized in Massachusetts this season to date are covered by the current influenza vaccine.

Nationally, influenza-like illness activity remains elevated, and approximately equal numbers of influenza A and influenza B have been reported so far this season, with continued increases in influenza A in recent weeks.

Framingham Health Director Sam Wong said the “most important public health message is: It is still not too late to get a flu shot. Flu vaccine remains the best method to prevent flu.”

The City of Framingham provides “free flu shot to any Framingham resident at our public health nursing walk-in clinic,” said Wong.

The clinic is open weekly on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. at 113 Concord Street in downtown Framingham.

“What kills people is the complications, so secondary infections, bacterial pneumonias that can occur after someone has had the flu for a number of days,” explained Dr. Larry Madoff, the state’s infectious disease specialist last month.

So far this flu season, between more than 3,000 Massachusetts residents have been hospitalized with the flu.

Last season, the flu was reported into May.

Amid coronavirus fears, 2nd wave of flu hits U.S. kids [Northwest Herald, 15 Feb 2020]

By MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK ? A second wave of flu is hitting the U.S., turning this into one of the nastiest seasons for children in a decade.

The number of child deaths and the hospitalization rate for youngsters are the highest seen at this point in any season since the severe flu outbreak of 2009 to 2010, health officials said Friday. And the wave is expected to keep going for weeks.

Experts have said it potentially is a bad time for an extended flu season, given concerns about the new coronavirus out of China, which can cause symptoms that can be difficult to distinguish from the flu without testing.

If coronavirus were to begin spreading in the U.S., there could be confusion about whether people are getting sick with it or the flu, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University.

The flu season got off to its earliest start in 15 years, with surges of flu-like illnesses seen in parts of the South as early as October. Most cases were caused by a type of flu that usually causes substantial infections only in the spring, at the tail end of the flu season.

That wave peaked in late December and dropped steadily for weeks afterward.

But a second surge began in late January. Last week saw another rise in the percentage of doctor’s office visits that were due to flu-like illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have not yet peaked for influenza. We are still on our way up,” Dr. David Weber, a University of North Carolina infectious diseases specialist, said of the patient traffic in Chapel Hill.

Overall, the CDC estimated that 26 million Americans have gotten sick with the flu this past fall and winter, with about 250,000 flu-related hospitalizations and about 14,000 deaths.

The viruses behind both waves can be hard on children and young adults. But they aren’t considered as dangerous to retirement-age people ? good news, since most flu deaths and hospitalizations each winter occur in the elderly.

In fact, the overall death and hospitalization rates this season are not high “because we haven’t seen the elderly as involved in this flu season,” the CDC’s Lynnette Brammer said.

But 92 flu-related deaths already have been reported in children, a higher total at this point of the year than in any season in the past decade. And the hospitalization rates also are far higher than what’s been seen at this point.

The CDC said the reason is that two strains of the flu that are tough on children are spreading in the same season.

The health agency is expected to release an estimate next week of how effective the flu vaccine has been.

So far, only 15 U.S. cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed and no deaths. All but two of the cases were in people who had traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the international outbreak. The remaining two were spread from travelers to their spouses.

Schaffner said that for the time being, it is easy to determine a likely coronavirus case by asking about a patient’s travel history.

It’s possible that concern about the coronavirus has led some people with flu symptoms to go to the doctor for testing this year, whereas they might have just stayed home in other years, Brammer said. But there is nothing in CDC data that shows that’s been happening, she added.

Still, it’s OK if it does happen, the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier said.

“People being a little worried and seeking care doesn’t especially worry me because that’s the point,” she said. “We’re looking for broader spread within the community.”

To that end, health officials will be using five public health labs that usually test for the flu to also start checking for coronavirus. The labs are in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. When a specimen tests negative for flu, it then will be tested for coronavirus, Messonnier said.

Flu cases on the rise across the nation, could continue to get worse [WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland, 15 Feb 2020]

by Alex Stokes

CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) -- Flu cases are continuing to rise across the nation and are expected to continue for weeks, according to the CDC.

The public health institute projects flu activity will likely stay elevated through the end of the month with high activity in most states, including Ohio.

State health officials say there have been nearly 5,500 hospitalizations since the beginning of our flu season on September 29, and Cuyahoga County has one of the highest hospitalization rates.

As the Ohio Department of Health announces hospitalizations have more than doubled from last flu season, people are keeping their hand sanitizer nearby.

"If I don't have a chance to wash my hands, I've got my little pink guy handy, just in case," said Shelly Keller.

Keller already came down with the virus in December, she says, worse than ever before.

"I literally had to go to the doctor's twice, got lots of medication and I was homebound for weeks because you feel that miserable and the cough never leaves, so it took a long, long time," she recalled.

The week of February 2-8, the state reported nearly 1,000 hospitalizations, 19 percent more than the previous week.

In Cuyahoga County, officials say flu activity remains "very high" for the second straight week.
There have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases in the county this season.

"I'm very wary, and I'm always washing my hands and afraid to touch things especially during flu season, cold season," said Chris Hagen.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health recently reported another flu-related death of a 33-year-old man from North Olmsted, bringing the total number of deaths in the county for this season to nine.

"It's a terrible situation and it definitely makes you thankful to get your flu shot," said Hagen.
Lake Health is temporarily limiting visitors at its three hospitals: West Medical Center, Beachwood Medical Center and TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township.

Only two healthy adult visitors will be allowed per patient and must wash their hands before and after their visit.

"We want to try to keep our family members healthy. We want to try to keep our patients healthy, try to keep our staff healthy and we try to do this by placing restrictions in place when the flu activity gets really that high," said Dr. John Baniewicz.

They also request that anyone with flu-like symptoms reschedule any out-patient appointments.

"Don't come visit at the hospital if you're sick; stay home, probably stay home from work if you're sick so that you don't spread the infection to other people," said Dr. Baniewicz.

The state has reported two pediatric flu deaths thus far, girls ages 11 and 16. Ohio doesn't track adult flu deaths.

First State reports additional flu deaths | Delaware First Media [Delaware First Media,11 Feb 2020]

By JOE IRIZARRY

Three more flu deaths have been confirmed in Delaware.

The First State has now seen seven flu-related deaths this season, as of February 1.

The three most recent deaths include a 71-year-old New Castle County woman, a 95-year-old Kent County man and a 96-year-old Sussex County woman.

All three had underlying health issues, as did the first four who died from the flu this season.
Flu cases are also up.

State health officials report about 1500 more confirmed flu cases than this time last year. The total number of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases so far this flu season is at 3,592, with 197 people requiring hospitalized.

Flu deaths climb to 47 in Pennsylvania this season [TribLIVE,11 Feb 2020]

by BRIAN C. RITTMEYER

The flu contributed to another seven deaths in the past week of a flu season that shows no signs of letting up, according to data the state Department of Health released Tuesday.

Through Saturday, 47 flu-associated deaths had been reported this flu season, up from 40 the week before. It’s the second week that the state’s flu-related death total increased by seven.

“Over the last few weeks, we have seen the most flu cases of the season,” Health Department spokeswoman Brittany Lauffer said. “That shows that at this time, flu is not letting up.”

Most of the deaths, 34, have been among people age 65 and over. There were five additional deaths in that age group in the past week.

There were two more deaths in the 50-to-64 age group in the past week, for a total of seven deaths this flu season.

Six people who died this flu season were between 19 and 49.

No deaths have yet been reported in the youngest age group, up to 18.

The state does not disclose where deaths happened.

Statewide, laboratory-confirmed flu cases increased 21% in the past week to 72,460, according to the Health Department. Flu-associated hospitalizations increased by 24% to 1,632.

While type B remains dominant, accounting for 63% of statewide cases, type A cases increased by nearly twice as much in the past week, 30% for type A compared with 17% for type B.

Type A and B are different strains of the flu, Lauffer said.

“Seeing that we saw more type B to start the year, the fact that we now are seeing more type A is concerning, because people can get sick from both strains, and Influenza A is typically more severe for the very young and the older populations,” she said.

In the seven-county Pittsburgh area, flu cases increased 10% to 16,860. Cases in the area ? including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties ? account for 23% of the state total.

Allegheny County, which had the highest number of confirmed flu cases since the season began Sept. 29, continues to lead the state with 8,750 cases, up 9%. Montgomery County is a distant second, with 5,247 confirmed cases.

In the Pittsburgh area, the largest increase in the past week was seen in Butler County, where confirmed cases increased by 20% to 772.

Lauffer said it is essential that residents take steps to protect themselves, “such as washing your hands frequently, coughing or sneezing into your arm, cleaning surfaces such as countertops, cellphones, light switches and others frequently, and if you are sick, stay home.”

Doctors: Coronavirus spurs more flu awareness [CT Insider, 8 Feb 2020]

By Amanda Cuda

Is there an upside to the coronavirus, the respiratory virus that’s sickened at least a dozen people in the United States and more than 24,000 globally?

Kind of.

“It’s making people a lot more aware of all different kinds of viruses ? including the flu,” said Dr. Goran Miljkovic, an infectious disease physician at Bridgeport Hospital.

Other doctors echoed that statement, including Dr. Cornelius Ferreira, network director of primary care at Nuvance Health, which includes Danbury, New Milford and Norwalk hospitals, among others.

“People are much more aware of their risks, I think,” he said. “I have seen that more people are washing their hands, not touching their faces and getting their flu shots.”

Late last year, reports began surfacing about a new kind of respiratory virus identified in Wuhan, in the Hubei Province of China. Dubbed 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, the illness was a new type of coronavirus ? a large family of viruses that can cause everything from the common cold to such illnesses as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Though the majority of novel coronavirus cases have been identified in China, there have been at least 12 in the United States, including one in Massachusetts. To date, no cases have been identified in Connecticut.

By contrast, as of the week ending Feb. 1, 6,404 people have tested positive for the flu in Connecticut and 32 people ? including a child younger than 5 years old ? have died from flu-associated illnesses. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that at least 19 million people have tested positive for flu this season.

Though doctors said they’ve seen many patients worried about their risks for coronavirus, some have also seen a spike in questions about illness in general, and the flu in particular.

Ferreira attributes that diversity of concern to news reports that have compared coronavirus with the flu, and have pointed out the flu is a bigger health risk for most people. The discussion could put an extra spotlight on the flu, which can be underestimated, he said.

“Because we’ve gotten used to the flu, we’ve become kind of blunted to it,” Ferreira said. “This brings it back into the conversation.”

Dr. Michael Parry, director of infectious disease at Stamford Hospital, said he’s also seen the profile of flu getting raised a bit during this latest disease panic.

“People are more concerned in general about hand-washing and are asking about whether they should wear a mask,” he said.

But despite more talk about the flu, Parry and others didn’t have any statistical evidence that coronavirus is actually leading more people to get the flu shot or take more precautions against the flu.

“There’s certainly more conversations, but whether they’ve actually led to more action ? I don’t think so,” Parry said.

And others still said they’ve seen the current flu season get completely overshadowed by coronavirus craziness. Those include Dr. Steve Heffer, medical director of four American Family Care urgent care centers in Bridgeport, Faifield and Shelton. Heffer said the bulk of the patients that come through his clinics still seem more concerned about coronavirus than the flu, and it’s hard to change their minds about that.

“The flu is not in the forefront of people’s psyche right now,” he said. “Overall, I think they’re more concerned about the coronavirus.”

Heffer said he attributes the panic over coronavirus to the fact that “it’s unknown.” Because flu has been around awhile, he said, it can get lost in the shuffle.

“There is a lack of awareness of how damaging the plain flu can be,” he said.

Flu Season Sees A Second Peak [WebMD, 8 Feb 2020]

By Brenda Goodman

Feb. 7, 2020 -- With the nation’s attention on coronavirus, the less flashy flu season has picked up steam again, causing large numbers of infections in 47 states, according to the latest numbers from the CDC.

What’s more, A strains of the virus have outpaced B strains as the biggest drivers of infections, giving the season a rare second peak.

“We may well have, for the second year in a row -- unprecedented -- a double-barreled influenza season,” says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Here’s the rub: If you’ve already had one strain of the flu, you can still get another.

Schaffner says he’s aware of at least two cases of patients having the flu from a B strain, and then getting sick again with an A strain just weeks later.

“Last year, we had H1N1, then H3N2,” which are both A strains, he says.

“This year, we started with B-Victoria. Now it looks like we’re getting a surge in H1N1,” which is an A strain, he says.

The flu shot has protection against both A and B strains.

The latest numbers from the CDC show that flu activity in the U.S. remains high and widespread. Ten more deaths in children were also reported. So far, 78 kids have died from the flu this season.

More than 10,000 people have been hospitalized with the flu this season. The highest rate of hospitalizations is in adults over age 65.

Health experts in AZ say flu more of an instant threat than coronavirus [AZFamily, 8 Feb 2020]

By Jason Barry

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Stories about the coronavirus and the number of people impacted by it around the world are practically on the news every night.

According to Jessica Rigler, the assistant director of health preparedness with Arizona's Department of Health Services, there has only been one case of the coronavirus in Arizona, compared to thousands of flu cases. "Public health in Arizona is taking coronavirus very seriously, but the most immediate threat this time, as far as infectious disease to the Arizona public, is the flu," she said.

Flu cases in Arizona are up to 85% compared to last year, with roughly 17,000 flu cases reported. And there's no indication flu season is coming to an end any time soon.

Cary Olson's 5-year old daughter Avyn got hit with the flu a few weeks ago. "It's really concerning," said Olson, who lives in Phoenix. "You worry about if they are going to need to be hospitalized since they are so young."

Phoenix pediatrician Dr. David Lersch said this is one of the worst flu seasons we've seen in years. "The new Influenza A strain is increasing, so its lasting longer because we kind of had two different strains of the flu," said Lersch. "It's much more prolonged and bigger numbers. Lots of people have the flu."

Flu season usually wraps up around March, but this year, it's expected to last through April and possibly into the summer. Health experts say it's not too late to get a flu shot. It doesn't guarantee you won't get the flu, but it will greatly reduce your risk.

"It's true. It doesn't protect and completely prevent all kinds of flu, but it dramatically shortens the flu and prevents the complications," said Lersch.

Flu season in full swing [The Winchester Star, 8 Feb 2020]

By ANNA MEROD

WINCHESTER ? Everyone is concerned about the coronavirus, but it’s the flu that’s sending people to the hospital.

The percentage of patients presenting with flu-like symptoms to Winchester Medical Center’s emergency room was 9.5% in the past week, said Dr. Jeffrey Feit, vice president of population health at Valley Health System.

That’s a bit higher than the state average of 8% of patients at emergency departments and urgent care centers who have shown flu-like symptoms, according to a report released
Thursday by the Virginia Department of Health.

Two weeks ago, 7.1% of patients in WMC’s emergency room showed flu-like symptoms and the week before that the rate was 5.3%.

So far this flu season, 773 people in Virginia have died from the flu or pneumonia-related illness, according to the Department of Health report. The previous flu season saw 1,813 deaths statewide.

Feit said no numbers are available of how many people have died from flu or pneumonia-related illnesses at Winchester Medical Center.

Although people panic about the potential spread of the coronavirus, more people should be concerned about the flu, said Dr. Colin Greene, director of the Lord Fairfax Health District, which covers the City of Winchester and Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren counties.

“You are much more at risk for the flu than you are for the coronavirus right now,” he said.
“The numbers are clear.”

As of Friday, there were only 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States with no confirmed cases in Virginia. Of the 31,000 people infected with the coronavirus, 638 have died.
All but two of those deaths have been in China.

Feit said it’s hard to compare the flu and coronavirus. The coronavirus is worrisome at a global level with a mortality rate at about 2% as of Thursday, he added, while the flu is just a frequent, common disease with a mortality rate between 0.5-1%.

If the coronavirus were widespread in the United States, Feit said, it would definitely be a concern.

Feit and Greene encourage everyone to get a flu shot each year, preferably in October before flu season begins. It’s not too late to get the shot, Greene said, as there are still several months left of flu season.

It takes about two weeks for a flu shot to become effective, Greene said. In rare cases, people can get a low-grade fever, feel a little soreness at the site of the shot or feel some overall discomfort after receiving the flu shot. However, the flu shot cannot give you the flu, he added.

People older than 65 years old, younger than 6 months or with a weak immune system or a chronic disease are more at risk of severe complications from the flu, Greene said.

If a person does get the flu, Greene suggests he or she stay home. If the illness persists and gets worse, that person should also go to a doctor, especially if they are a member of one of the most vulnerable populations.

Although WMC has restricted visiting hours in the past, the hospital hasn’t done so for the last couple of years. There was really no difference in the number of hospital-acquired flu cases when visitation was restricted versus when it wasn’t, said Dr. Nick Restrepo, vice president of medical affairs at WMC.

Restricting visiting hours also “sometimes had an adverse impact on patients and their loved ones,” Restrepo said.

Coronavirus Is Bad. Comparing It to the Flu Is Worse [WIRED, 8 Feb 2020]

The whataboutism of infectious disease is as dangerous as it is hackneyed.

There's a deadly virus spreading throughout China right now, but SELF Magazine has a calming message for Americans: "For perspective," the publication tweeted Thursday, "the flu is a bigger threat in the U.S." This was just the latest in an epic run of such comparisons: “The virus killing U.S. kids isn’t the one dominating headlines,” the Daily Beast advised; “Don’t worry about the new coronavirus, worry about the flu,” said Buzzfeed. Even the U.S. Surgeon General has gotten in on this idea. There are as many as 5 million severe cases of flu worldwide each year, and 650,000 deaths; in other words, says Axios, “If you’re freaking out about coronavirus but you didn’t get a flu shot, you’ve got it backwards.”

Call it “viral whataboutism.” The appeal to hypocrisy has long been endemic to our political discourse; and in recent years the pox has spread. Now this mutant form of rhetoric has come into discussions of what could be a massive epidemiological threat. Is the new coronavirus something to worry about? Yeah, sure, but so’s the flu… and you don’t seem to care too much about that!

For goodness’ sake, stop. Yes, we know the flu is bad?no one likes the flu. But the gambit of positioning the influenza virus as the scarier of two foes is as dangerous as it is hackneyed.
During the outbreak of deadly hemorrhagic fever that hit West Africa in 2014, Americans were reassured, again and again, that “Ebola is bad. The flu is worse.” It’s true that Ebola didn’t become a true threat in the United States, where two people returning from Africa with the disease died, and only two cases of new infection were recorded. It’s also true that 148 children in America?and thousands of adults?would die from influenza over the following winter. But these whatabout statistics aren’t really meant to sharpen our vigilance around the flu, or even to encourage us toward higher rates of vaccination. They’re just supposed to calm us down, and make us realize that we needn’t go to pieces over some other, more exotic-sounding disease.

Stemming panic can be a righteous goal, especially when that panic is unfounded. Ebola certainly hasn’t vanished from the Earth?a recent outbreak in Congo has infected more than 3,000 people since August. But we now have a vaccine against the illness, and we’re better equipped to quell its spread. In the meantime, panic has unintended, harmful consequences.
For example, just in the last week, we learned that the hoarding of face masks by healthy consumers might cause a dangerous shortage for the health workers who need them most.

In contrast to Ebola, which was discovered decades ago, the coronavirus strain behind the outbreak that began in China is brand-new to scientists. So far this pathogen has claimed 638 lives, and we simply don’t know how it will behave in weeks and months to come. By telling people not to worry?or that we should worry “more” about the flu?we may end up eroding public trust in the media. What happens if this coronavirus proves much worse than we expected? The Chinese government is already under scrutiny for downplaying the risks. Why would American news outlets want to repeat the error?

Even taken on their own terms, the flu comparisons rely on wonky and myopic math. Flu can kill Amercans by the tens of thousands, but that’s because it’s been around so long and has had so much time to spread. Millions get the virus every year, and fewer than 0.1 percent of them perish from it. What’s the rate of death from the new coronavirus? No one can say for certain, but estimates have hovered at around 20 times the rate for influenza, or 2 percent.
Some virologists assert this is an overestimate, because milder cases might be getting overlooked; others counter that, given lack of access to diagnostic testing, many deaths may be uncounted. In short, it’s too soon to say. It’s also unclear how efficiently this coronavirus spreads from person to person. The total number of confirmed cases has grown from 282 on Jan. 21 to 31,211 on Feb. 7. It’s possible the spread will slow. Or else it might accelerate. In light of this uncertainty, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to counsel everyone to “get a Grippe” on their concerns.

All I’m saying is, I wouldn’t want to have been the person telling people to worry about heart disease instead of the flu in 1918. Before that outbreak was over, it had killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide; and, in the U.S., the number of deaths from respiratory illness surpassed those from heart disease for the first time in a decade. When it comes to disease?and particularly infectious ones?it’s best to avoid pitting pathogens against one another in a sort of “mortality rate Olympics”. Mother Nature doesn’t let us choose, a la carte, which problems to digest and when. It’s more like she’s piling our plates with stuff we didn’t ask for, and then adding to it even though we’re full.

I get it?there are enough things to worry about already. Democracy is crumbling, climate change is advancing, children are being held in cages, healthcare is increasingly unaffordable and bills are looming. It’s hard to pile on concern about something that’s happening on the other side of the planet. Still we shouldn’t let ourselves be swindled of our capacity for empathy. As rhetoric, viral whataboutism tends to paper over the suffering of other people.
There are more than 50 million people on lockdown at the heart of the new coronavirus epidemic, and hospitals are struggling to keep apace. Tragic stories have been mounting up, like that of the 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who died in Hubei province when his father?his sole caregiver?was placed in quarantine. When news articles tell us that we should focus on the flu instead, they tacitly allow us to ignore this suffering in China. When they suggest that the so-called ‘2019nCov’ coronavirus appears to be of greatest threat to the old and already infirm, they encourage us to ignore the plights of people in those groups, and take an ageist and ableist point of view. In fact, scientists are still amassing data to know exactly who is most vulnerable to developing severe disease.

Rather than returning time and time again to these flu comparisons, let’s focus on a problem we can fix. The global infrastructure for quelling outbreaks of new pathogens has been weakened by unstable funding: The World Health Organization has said that it needs $675 million to cover the cost of its response plan to the new coronavirus from February through April; and one academic paper notes that the organization’s entire 2018-2019 budget came to about $4.4 billion?just a fraction of the $33 billion annual healthcare and social services budget of Quebec, the Canadian province where I live. (The same paper notes that the WHO’s budget is “less than the budget of many major hospitals in the United States.”) Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is running out of money for global epidemic prevention, and reducing efforts in 39 out of 49 countries.

I know, I know: Budget shortfalls are affecting lots of important projects, not just those aimed at preventing epidemics of disease. Some might claim, in this age of whataboutism, that while defunding the CDC is bad, cutting food stamps is worse. But when we play this zero-sum game, we end up shortchanging ourselves. We need to say ‘enough,’ or the whatabouts will never end.

25 People Have Died From Flu In Maryland This Season, Health Department Says [CBS Baltimore, 7 Feb 2020]

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ? More than two dozen people have now died from the flu in Maryland this season, the state’s health department said Friday.

In total, 25 people, including three children, have died from the flu, with five of the deaths coming in the past week.

Two-hundred sixty-one people were hospitalized with the flu in the past week alone, officials said.

Flu activity is listed as high and widespread across the state.

Flu season so far: 12K deaths, 22M sick [KY3, 7 Feb 2020]

By Ed Payne

ATLANTA (Gray News) ? Flu activity across the U.S. has increased over the last three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Rates among children and young adults remain higher than in recent flu seasons.

A total of 78 influenza-associated deaths in children have been reported so far this season.
That’s an increase of 14 since last week’s report.

The CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 12,000 deaths, 22 million illnesses and 210,000 hospitalizations from flu.

Flu was widespread in Puerto Rico and 48 states. In Hawaii, Oregon, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the outbreaks are less active.

Flu shots are recommended for everyone 6 months of age and older.

It takes about two weeks for antibodies to develop and provide protection against the flu after your vaccination.

The CDC said it expects flu season to continue through February.

New tool monitors real time mutations in flu: Gold-based tool could help virologists stop replication of viruses [Science Daily, 6 Feb 2020]

A Rutgers-led team has developed a tool to monitor influenza A virus mutations in real time, which could help virologists learn how to stop viruses from replicating.

The gold nanoparticle-based probe measures viral RNA in live influenza A cells, according to a study in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. It is the first time in virology that experts have used imaging tools with gold nanoparticles to monitor mutations in influenza, with unparalleled sensitivity.

"Our probe will provide important insight on the cellular features that lead a cell to produce abnormally high numbers of viral offspring and on possible conditions that favor stopping viral replication," said senior author Laura Fabris, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Viral infections are a leading cause of illness and deaths. The new coronavirus, for example, has led to more than 24,000 confirmed cases globally, including more than 3,200 severe ones and nearly 500 deaths as of Feb. 5, according to a World Health Organization report.
Influenza A, a highly contagious virus that arises every year, is concerning due to the unpredictable effectiveness of its vaccine. Influenza A mutates rapidly, growing resistant to drugs and vaccines as it replicates.

The new study highlights a promising new tool for virologists to study the behavior of influenza A, as well as any other RNA viruses, in host cells and to identify the external conditions or cell properties affecting them. Until now, studying mutations in cells has required destroying them to extract their contents. The new tool enables analysis without killing cells, allowing researchers to get snapshots of viral replication as it occurs. Next steps include studying multiple segments of viral RNA and monitoring the influenza A virus in animals.
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Story Source:
Materials provided by Rutgers University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Journal Reference:
1. Kholud Dardir, Hao Wang, Brigitte E. Martin, Maria Atzampou, Christopher B. Brooke, Laura Fabris. SERS Nanoprobe for Intracellular Monitoring of Viral Mutations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2020; 124 (5): 3211 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b09253