Health Alerts Issued Because of High Number of Flu Cases
In Boston, a recent outbreak of flu cases forced health officials to declare a health emergency. More than 700 confirmed cases in the city caused emergency rooms to fill up fast. According to the Huffington Post, the city encouraged everyone to get a flu shot and to stay home if they did get sick.
Massachusetts isn’t the only state battling higher than normal flu cases, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and New York have been particularly hard-hit.
While the CDC believes this will be a tough flu season, the Mayo Clinic thinks the CDC is underestimating the dangers of the flu strain that’s making people sick.
“This will probably be the worst flu season we’ve had in several decades,” Infectious Disease Specialist Gregory Poland told USA Today. “My guess is that we’ll be in the 50,000 to 70,000 deaths this year due to this strain.”
In an average year, the disease infects up to 20% of the U.S. population, killing about 36,000 Americans and hospitalizing 114,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tamiflu Now Approved for Babies
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now suggesting the use of Tamiflu to treat flu symptoms in children as young as two weeks old. Prior to this expansion, which the FDA recently made, Tamiflu was only suggested for children over the age of one.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children younger than 2 years are at higher risk for developing complications from the flu, with the highest rates of hospitalization in those less than 6 months of age.
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