California’s worst flu season in years. Where is RSV? Severe special infectious pneumonia?

The worst flu season over the years was flooding California, prompting hospitalizations to rise, and officials warned that the disease may continue to circulate high levels in the coming weeks.

On the one hand, this season is already more effective than anyone since the pandemic in the early 1920s, according to the California Department of Public Health. The rate of positive results for flu tests at the state’s clinical outpost lab soared to 27.8% in the week ended February 1, the latest complete data.

This is higher than the “triple-fold” winter peak in the 2022-23 winter, when hospitals in California emphasized both influenza, interconnected and respiratory synthetic viruses or RSV.

“We are still on the rise,” Dr. Peter Chin-hong, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco, said of the flu. “This is the first time we’re talking mostly about the flu rather than shared,” he said since the pandemic began.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, there have been at least 10 pediatric flu deaths this season. These include three teenagers from San Diego County.

“The recent flu deaths among our young people are tragic and worrying that we enter history of flu,” Dr. Ankita Kadakia, the county’s interim public health official, said in a statement. The peak season of the season.”

The teenager hasn’t received a flu vaccine, and Cardakia said it’s still “the best protection, not serious illness.” Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 11,000 deaths this season, including 47 children and at least 250,000 hospitalized.

“I think at Kuvid, we’re used to the idea of ​​kids, Quote-Unquote, good,” Chin-hong said. But, flu “kids can be very serious. Pediatricians told me they are seeing a lot of flu in their kids right now.”

The complicated thing is that the vaccination rate for children with flu this winter is unusually low, the lowest since at least the 2019-20 season. Nationwide, 44.5% of children aged 17 and under received the flu vaccine as of late January, down from 49.1% in the same period last year, from 51.7% the previous year.

Influenza vaccination rates for children aged 17 and under are at their lowest since the respiratory virus season at least 2019-20.

(Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

California has similar trends: As of late January, 47.7% of children in California have already received flu, the lowest since at least the 2019-20 flu season. Last year, at this time, 53.7% of children were vaccinated with the flu.

The CDC recommends that everyone who is 6 months or older will be vaccinated with the flu, ideally by the end of October, the protection of the disease can be promoted during the high winter circulation period.

But given how effective this flu season has proven to be, officials say those who have not been vaccinated should consider doing so.

“It’s a particularly long and difficult flu season compared to recent years. And it’s not over yet,” Cardakia said.

Chin-hong said the two flus that are usually circulating now are H1N1, which is associated with swine flu strains, which caused the flu pandemic in 2009 and 2010 – H3N2, “this is usually just causing a more serious disease,” Chin-hong said. Chin-hong said. In public health laboratories in the last week, approximately 3500 influenza viruses were performed nationwide, with 54% of them H1N1 and H3N2 being H3N2.

No avian flu virus was found in humans that week. Health officials say the risk to the public from bird flu remains low as no one-to-person differences are found. Nationwide, 68 human cases have been confirmed, including 38 in California. The vast majority of these conditions are associated with exposure to infected poultry or cattle.

Pharmacist Deep Patel prepared a flu and co-vaccine for Brandon Guerrero on August 28, 2024 at CVS in Huntington Park.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

In the latest weekly report on respiratory viruses, California health officials said overall flu activity was “high and growing,” but at this time they are not seeing the spread of Covid or RSV similarly.

Co-activity is lower statewide, with lower and reduced RSV activity. The latest test positive rate for COVID is 2.4% and RSV is 5%.

Some experts warn that test positivity rates are not necessarily the best indicator of comparing flu seasons, as testing practices and healthcare usage vary by season.

Influenza levels in California wastewater are considered “very high.”

(Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

The data show that influenza levels detected by monitoring of California wastewater are “very high”, just like most other states. In California, RSV levels are considered “high”, while covalent levels are considered low.

Hospitalization rates for flu in California are also rising, possibly indicating a second peak in winter. According to the latest national report, hospitalization rates have risen to 10.1 new admissions per 100,000 people, the highest this season.

The total number of hospital admissions for influenza may reach its second peak in California.

(California Department of Public Health)

“The forecast of influenza suggests that emergency department visits will remain high and may increase in most states,” the CDC said.

At the University of California, San Francisco, staff alerted that the hospital was full, “I haven’t seen it in a while,” Chin-hong said. “A lot of people are in the hospital for flu, so that’s probably part of it.”

In Los Angeles County, the situation is roughly the same, and this winter flu season seems to be the most durable and effective era in the post-excitement post-era.

In Los Angeles County, the test positivity rate for flu has been over 20% for seven weeks, with the latest week rising to 28.83%.

For seven weeks in a row, Los Angeles County has tested positive for flu over 20%. The flu season for 2020-21 is not shown because flu levels are so small during the first whole season of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)

The last continuous surge in flu positive tests was in the 2019-20 season, with the positivity rate of flu tests exceeding 20% ​​for 10 consecutive weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that across the country, emergency room visits are high and RSV flu is very high. But they are lows for Covid-19.

The rate at which influenza tests were positive nationwide was 31.6%, and it has been increasing. The positive rate of RSV test was 6.6%, which was lowered. As of the last report released on Friday, the COVID test positivity rate also fell to 4.9%.

A map shows that respiratory disease levels in the eastern U.S. are moderate in California.

(Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

“The shared forecast for the next two weeks suggests that emergency department visits will remain low compared to previous winters,” the CDC said.

If this trend holds true, it will be the first winter of the California era, with no significant surge in disease in the California era.

“The surge in Kuved last summer and early fall could reduce a portion of the population for Covid-19 this winter,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement.

Chin-hong said it could also help, because there has been no new blockbusters in recent months.

Among respiratory diseases in the eastern U.S., the overall level of respiratory diseases, including influenza, Covid, and RSV, is considered moderate in most of California and western regions.

Vaccines for COVID and RSV are also provided, and health officials recommend residents, especially those at high risk of severe symptoms, to consider accessing these shots. RSV immunization was first approved for use in the United States in 2023.

All those 6 months or older are recommended for all age groups over the fall update to get COVID vaccinations. All adults aged 75 and older are recommended for RSV vaccine, while the risk is increased between 60 and 74 years old. To prevent severe RSV in babies, officials recommend maternal vaccination or immunization of babies with monoclonal antibodies.

Dr. Rais Vohra, Dr. Rais Vohra: “With respiratory infections circulating in our communities, it is more important than ever to get a flu vaccine, as well as a newer Covid-19 vaccine and RSV vaccine, if you are eligible.” Resno County interim health officials said in a statement.

In October, a report published in the CDC’s weekly report on morbidity and mortality was reported that in other countries, including South America (South America), flu vaccination rates have declined, and in South America, they Below the pre-Pader disease norms.

“This finding is consistent with vaccine misleading, hesitation and a decrease in vaccination coverage in routine immunization services,” the report said.

Some health experts have expressed shock at the rise in skepticism about the safety of vaccines, including President Trump’s nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who runs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Health experts say the vaccine recommended by the United States is safe.

“I just wonder if this is part of the general. He added that the reduction in the rate of influenza vaccination for children is “that was amazing for me.” ”