Google Flu Trends indicates outbreak could be worst on record
Posted: 01/10/2013 12:45:17 PM PST
Updated: 01/10/2013 01:34:14 PM PST
A man is given a flu shot by at the medical offices of Yaffe Ruden & Associates in New York on January 10, 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that this year's flu season is expected to be one of the worst the country has seen in 10 years. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
But wait - if you ask Google Flu Trends, we're in the midst of an outbreak that is shaping up to be the most extensive on record. Never before this week have so many people searched for the terms that Google believes are likely indicators of the influenza virus. If Google's algorithm is accurate, that should translate to a volume of doctor visits that significantly exceeds that of the H1N1 outbreak in October 2009. The media usually loves a good health scare. So why isn't anyone sounding the alarm?...
Minn. officials: 27 flu-related deaths this season
Updated 3:52 pm, Thursday, January 10, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota confirmed 23 more flu-related deaths Thursday, raising the season total to 27 for what Health Commissioner Edward Ehlinger called the state's most severe flu outbreak in several years.
More than 1,100 people have been hospitalized with flu-like symptoms statewide this season, the Minnesota Department of Health said in a weekly update, and the commissioner said it's putting stress on the health care system. Several hospitals have restricted visitors in an attempt to protect patients and staff.
Twenty-three of the state's deaths and 62 percent of the hospitalizations have been in people 65 and older, the department said.
"If you have not received your flu shot it is not too late, but the sooner the better," Ehlinger told reporters...
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Minn-officials-27-flu-related-deaths-this-season-4183894.php#ixzz2HcaI7SJ8
Flu Cases Filling Southern California hospitals With Same National Wave Of Influenza Emergency departments and doctor's offices across Southern California are bracing for a flood of patients suffering with the same wave of influenza and respiratory diseases that have swept hospitals nationwide.
A spike in respiratory illness that includes fever, cough and sore throat was reported this week by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Most cases to date are caused by viruses other than influenza, but flu activity is on the rise and expected to get worse over the next few weeks...
Bird flu is kicking Indonesia's ass..reg flu is kickin north america's ass.. swine flu is kicking the mid east ass..Russia is having a fine time.. soon South Korea and China will join the party. Try to be ready.. when the whip comes down.