America’s Flu Crisis: The States Taking the Biggest Hit
A new H3N2 flu variant is spreading fast across the U.S., causing severe symptoms, hospitalizations, and concern as flu cases surge in 11 states.
A new form of the flu is spreading across the United States, a highly contagious variant that is causing more severe symptoms than other strains.
The virus, called sublineage K, is a version of the H3N2 strain and has led to an increase in hospitalizations in several states.
Now, experts are warning parents to monitor their children for flu symptoms. Dr. Juanita Mora, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, told Telemundo Chicago that the virus is affecting both children and adults "severely."
"This new strain has very high fevers, very bad coughs that don't go away, a lot of mucus, vomiting and diarrhea, and joint pain as well as muscle aches," she said.
She added that patients are reporting fevers as high as 104 and 105 degrees. Other symptoms include high fever, chills, headache, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and cough.
A CDC report found an increase in medical visits related to respiratory illness, with New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Colorado reporting "very high" levels of outpatient visits.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Idaho, South Carolina, and New Mexico also reported "high" levels of cases.
Dr. Neil Maniar, a professor of public health practice at Northeastern University, warned that the virus has not yet peaked. According to a press release from the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston, where Northeastern University is located, saw a 114 percent increase in cases just days before Christmas.
"It's becoming clear that this is a fairly serious variant of the flu," he said. "Certainly, in other parts of the world where this variant has been prevalent, it has caused some serious illnesses, and we're already seeing a very aggressive flu season." According to the CDC report, 1,900 people have died from flu infections in the United States so far this year, while 49,000 have been hospitalized.
Dr. Mora told Telemundo Chicago that there are three main warning signs of infection with the K variant. The first is a high fever that doesn't go away.
He said, "Secondly, any signs of difficulty breathing." So when children or adults have difficulty breathing, they start using their chest muscles, they start wheezing loudly, they develop a cough that doesn't go away. That's a sign to go to the emergency room.” According to Dr. Mora, the third sign is dehydration. She warned that when people have the flu, they may stop eating and drinking and remain confined to bed, which can be "very dangerous" for children and the elderly.
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Dr. Mora added that chest pain, difficulty breathing, inability to urinate, severe muscle pain or weakness, dizziness, and confusion are all signs that you need to go to the emergency room.
Meanwhile, Dr. Maniar urged people to get the flu shot, even though the current vaccine is not specifically designed to combat the sub-clade K variant.
"Getting vaccinated is very important," he said, explaining that even if you contract a different strain of influenza, the vaccine can still mitigate your symptoms. "We're heading into this with low vaccination rates and a variant that seems to be more aggressive on its own."
His warning comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump have been making false claims about the effectiveness of vaccines.
According to The New York Times, in 2020, RFK Jr. falsely claimed that "there is no evidence that the flu vaccine prevents any hospitalizations or any deaths."
More recently, a federal advisory committee overseen by RFK Jr. voted to end the recommendation that American children receive the hepatitis B vaccine.
During his second term, Trump further fueled concerns about vaccines, suggesting that the MMR vaccine could cause health problems in children and also suggesting that children were being given too many vaccines.
"Vaccines are very interesting," the president said. "They can be very good, but when you put the wrong things in them, you know... And, you know, children are given these massive vaccines like you would give to a horse... like you would give to a horse." Doctors criticized the Trump administration's skepticism regarding vaccines. On WXXI's "Conversations with Evan Dawson" show, Dr. Steven Schulz stated that the vaccines are "very effective and very safe."
In the same podcast, Dr. Jeff Weinberg said, "The vaccines on the market are far safer than the risks posed by the disease itself." "If you want to give your child the most protection, I would absolutely recommend getting them the influenza vaccine every year and, now, the COVID vaccine as well."
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