WASHINGTON — A lot of kids and adults in the Washington, D.C. area are spending the holidays in bed with the flu, and the latest government surveillance map shows no let-up in new cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu remains widespread throughout Virginia and Maryland, with local — or neighborhood — outbreaks in D.C.
The Virginia Department of Health breaks its flu numbers down by region, and says Northern Virginia is currently the hardest hit.
Maryland puts out its statistics a little differently for public consumption, and offers information on the severity of flu in the state, which it says just went from low to moderate — the second highest ranking.
“Flu poses a pretty serious risk,” says Joshua Sharfstein, who steps down December 31st, as Maryland’s Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene.
He says the most important way to protect yourself is to get a flu shot, but adds simple steps like hand washing, staying home when you are sick and covering coughs can help.
The CDC recently announced that one of the common flu strains going around has mutated a bit and the current vaccine might not be quite as effective as in years past.
But Sharfstein says it is still important to get vaccinated because even if the vaccine does not prevent the flu, it will significantly reduce the severity of the illness.
He says this whole episode with the slightly mutated virus shows why scientists are working so hard to create a “universal” vaccine that works against all flu viruses, or at least all flu viruses in a specific class, like influenza A.
For now, annual vaccination is the way to go, with up to date vaccines available each autumn.
This year, the release of the flu vaccine coincided with the arrival of Ebola in the U.S. And even though there were only a few Ebola cases, there was concern the deadly disease might spread.
At first, officials thought that panic over Ebola might keep many Americans from skipping their flu shot. But Sharfstein says that apparently wasn’t the case.
“I think we saw an increase in influenza vaccination this year,” he says. It happened because so many people felt helpless against Ebola, and figured at least they could take steps that would keep them safe from a bad case of the seasonal flu.
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