Although average flu activity in the U.S. has declined slightly in the past week, the level of flu activity remains higher than normal for this time of year, said a top official for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
There are now 43 states reporting widespread flu activity, compared with 46 a week ago, said Anne Schuchat, director of the agency's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Even with a decrease, it is still higher than the peak in many years,” Schuchat said, adding that the typical flu season is December through May. “But nothing is typical about this season. Our expectation is that the next few weeks will be busy ones,” Schuchat said. “We may see mixing of strains.” Schuchat said that while activity has slightly declined overall, it has increased in certain areas—such as Hawaii and Maine, for example.
In the past week, there were 171 pediatric deaths from the flu, including 15 deaths that were confirmed to have been from the H1N1 strain, which has been commonly referred to as swine flu. Meanwhile, 54.1 million doses of the vaccine have now been made available, which is an increase of 11 million from last week. States have ordered about 93% of the vaccine that is available.
Schuchat also answered questions about reports from Norway that the virus has mutated, saying that she did not want to downplay the findings, but that the mutation identified has no implication for the vaccine that was chosen or the anti-virals being used to treat the disease.
And just days before Thanksgiving, Schuchat shared tips for holiday travel to ward against the flu, which she said is part of the CDC's
new travel health campaign.
Separately, the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration
issued a compliance directive to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize—or eliminate—high- to very-high risk exposures to the H1N1 virus. The directive follows guidance from the CDC.
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