CDC: 2017 Record Number of Influenza Deaths Save
The CDC reports that in 2017, influenza killed and hospitalized more people in the United States than any other year in the last few decades. (Citation Source http://bit.ly/2DBr0TE)
Influenza killed about 80,000 people in the 2017-2018 season, according to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The previous high for a regular flu season, based on analyses dating back more than three decades, was 56,000 deaths.
This also included all time highs for influenza related infections, hospitalizations (>900,000 hospitalized) and deaths in children. There were a total of 180 pediatric deaths in 2017. Only the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which killed 358 children, was worse since health authorities began tracking child deaths from flu 14 years ago.
Now is the time to vaccinate!
The CDC recommends that those 6 months and older get a flu vaccine before the end of October.
Reasons for these high rates are several including nonvaccination, lower (36%) overall efficacy and delays in vaccination.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the worst pandemic in human history, the Spanish flu that killed 50 million to 100 million people during the winter of 1918-1919.
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