Flu Taking a Toll, Pediatric Deaths Hit 17-Year High

The flu is still spreading as we near peak flu season. Getty Images

• Northern and western states are now being hit hard.
• Currently the influenza B strain is appearing most often around the country.
• The CDC announced high numbers of pediatric deaths related to the flu.

The United States may be gearing up for one of the worst flu seasons in years, health experts predict.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Friday that there have been 32 pediatric deaths so far this season. That’s the most flu-related deaths we’ve seen in children since the CDC started tracking flu numbers 17 years ago.

That’s the most flu-related deaths we’ve seen at this point in the season in years, though that’s largely due to the earlier start we got this year. (To put this into perspective, at this time last year, there had only been 16 pediatric deaths.)

Most of the pediatric deaths have been linked to influenza B — a strain young children are particularly susceptible to. Now, influenza A appears to be gaining momentum, upping the risk that this flu season will be even more severe than expected.

The vaccine isn’t perfect, but it helps

The flu vaccine is never perfect — flu strains mutate and change each and every year, so it’s impossible for the vaccine to successfully target every flu variation.

Experts are also seeing more influenza B/Victoria cases than we typically do — a strain that’s not comprehensively covered by this year’s vaccine.

“While early in the season, all the circulating strains of influenza A/pdmH1 and influenza B/Yamagata tested so far have been similar to the strains in the vaccine, but 58 percent of influenza B/Victoria strains and only 34 percent of influenza A/H3 tested matched the vaccine strains,” Dr. Landry told Healthline.

Health officials are still working on those estimates, too, so they’ll likely change a bit as the season progresses.

“Ideally, this number should be as high as possible, but often with influenza the virus may genetically drift away from an exact match with the virus,” said Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.

Because the vaccine seemed to miss the mark a bit with the most predominant strain (B/Victoria), the United States might see more people continue to come down with this type of flu.

That said, even if you do contract one of these strains, the vaccine will reduce the length and severity of your symptoms.