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Flu, pneumonia deaths hit ‘epidemic’ levels in U.S.

Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times

Deaths from influenza and pneumonia have hit “epidemic” levels in the U.S. as flu activity became widespread in 36 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials reported 837 flu and pneumonia deaths to the CDC through its 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System during the 51st week of the year. Those deaths accounted for 6.8 percent of the 12,358 total deaths that week, just meeting the epidemic threshold.

The area that includes cities in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin reported 151 deaths, the most among the nine regions in the system. Another 147 deaths were tallied in the Pacific region, which includes California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.

The fewest deaths – 42 – were in the area that includes Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

Influenza activity was considered “widespread” in 36 states during week 51, according to the CDC’s most recent FluView report. These states included Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Another 10 states (Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia) had “regional” flu activity, two (Alaska and Oregon) and the District of Columbia had “local” activity, and two (California and Hawaii) had “sporadic” flu activity.

At least 2,643 people have been hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu since Oct. 1, the CDC reported. That works out to a hospitalization rate of 9.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 Americans.

More than 95 percent of the hospitalizations this flu season were the result of infection with an H3N2 strain of influenza, according to the CDC. Years that are dominated by H3N2 strains tend to involve more cases of severe illness and death, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, has warned.