A number of flu indicators are tracking at the same levels as the 2014-2015 season — the last ‘high severity’ flu season on record, CDC researchers reported.
In a conference call with the media, CDC influenza division director Dan Jernigan, MD, went over the most recent FluView data, which revealed that influenza-related deaths topped the epidemic threshold, jumping up to 9.1% of all deaths.
The overall rate of hospitalizations (41.9 per 100,000 most recently) is also tracking at the same rate as 2014-2015, although there have been more hospitalizations for those under age 65. At the end of the 2014-2015 season, the CDC estimated 34 million Americans got the flu, 16 million went to a doctor’s office for it and 710,000 were hospitalized.
