Health officials reported Friday that a more severe strain of the flu has become more widespread than the lesser H1 influenza virus’
The flu has spread to at least 48 states in the U.S. with 30 of those states experiencing high levels of infection.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), at the beginning of the flu season Influenza A H1N1 was the dominant strain. Accounting for nearly half of all the new cases, the more severe strain called Influenza A H3N2 has spread more than the other virus.
“There’s still a lot of flu to come,” Lynnette Brammer, leader of the CDC’s domestic influenza surveillance team says, “It looks like we are moving from an H1 wave to an H3 wave.”
The CDC strongly urges people to get themselves and their kids vaccinated as soon as possible because, in 2018, vaccination was estimated to prevent 7.1 million illnesses, 3.7 million medical visits, 109,000 hospitalizations, and 8,000 deaths.
