Flu Outbreak Map as Child's Death Sparks Fears About Spread of Virus

Cases of influenza are on the rise across the country with the number of people visiting hospital with a respiratory illness above the national baseline for a second week in a row, as a map of recorded cases shows the greatest activity in southern states.

It comes as the first pediatric flu death was reported earlier in the month, in Mississippi, raising concerns that an outbreak over the winter could have deadly consequences.

Newsweek approached the CDC via email for comment on Monday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its most recent influenza surveillance report that four percent of flu tests were returning positive results in the week ending November 11, while 3.5 percent of visits to a health care provider were about respiratory illness, above the national baseline. It added that the number of hospitalizations with the flu "continues to increase," with 527 that week.

The baseline is drawn from the average number of patient visits with respiratory illnesses outside the flu season.

It is estimated that influenza can cause between 12,000 and 52,000 excess deaths per year, out of anywhere between nine and 41 million cases of illness. While the flu disproportionately affects the elderly, who are prone to a worse form of illness, the largest proportion of respiratory illness outpatients so far this season have been children aged 0-4.

A map showing where concentrations of outpatients presenting with flu symptoms are reveals in the week ending November 11 the highest activity was in Louisiana, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, as well as Puerto Rico. Walk-in visits were also elevated in Florida, New Mexico and Washington D.C.

The CDC said in the same week, of viruses tested for by public health laboratories nationwide, nearly 76 percent were with the influenza A strain while over 24 percent were influenza B.

Outpatient visits with a respiratory illness are below what they were at the same point in last year's flu season—which peaked early on—but above the previous four years. Aside from the 2020-2021 season, when coronavirus restrictions largely prevented the spread of influenza, visits have spiked just before the new year and remained elevated through to February.

While no influenza-associated child deaths were reported in the last surveyed week, on November 15 the Mississippi State Department of Health reported the first of the season—the 25th in the state since records began in 2008. The health agency did not give the age of the child who had died, apart from that they were under the age of 18.

"Vaccination is the best protection against flu and the severe outcomes from flu infection," interim State Epidemiologist Dr. Kathryn Taylor said in a statement, noting flu shots were available for children for free.

"Flu cases and hospitalizations are so high in Mississippi," Dr. Anita Henderson, a paediatrician at the Hattiesburg Clinic, wrote on Sunday. Noting the recent pediatric death, she added: "Please avoid family and friends this Thanksgiving if you are sick and get tested and treated with antivirals if you are positive."

Medical experts previously told Newsweek that the risk of viral infection is highest in newborns and younger babies and urged parents with young children to take appropriate precautions when meeting family over the holiday season.