Flu 'epidemic ... still on the uptick,' national health official says
updated 9:24 PM EST, Thu January 10, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: New York county has 2,347 flu cases -- this time last year, there were 5 cases
- "We are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic," health official says
- Minnesota has 27 flu-related deaths; Oklahoma had 8
- Boston mayor declares a public health emergency because of flu
(CNN) -- The flu is spreading fiercely across the United States, with more than 40 states reporting widespread activity in what one of the nation's leading health officials is calling an epidemic.
"If you look at the charts that the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) put out on their website, it clearly has gone above that threshold. So we are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.
"It's still on the uptick," Fauci added.
The season has started earlier, and cases are more severe than last year, health officials say.
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu advisory report, which covers the week of December 23 to 29, suggests that 41 states have widespread influenza activity, which was an increase of 31 states from the previous week. The CDC will issue an update on the flu situation Friday.
There have so far been 2,257 hospitalizations associated with laboratory-confirmed flu virus, the CDC report said. Among children, there have been 18 deaths reported during this season. Various state agencies also are compiling statistics on flu-related deaths.
This is only about week five in a 12-week flu season, according to Fauci.
"Remember, once it peaks, you still have a considerable amount of time where there is a lot of flu activity, and right now it may have peaked in some places, but for the most part, it has not yet peaked," he said....
