When outbreaks of the flu began earlier than usual in the fall, experts noticed a leading cause was a virus that doesn’t typically emerge until the end of the season and is more likely to affect kids.
As an infectious disease specialist for the better part of four decades, Bernhard “Bud’’ Wiedermann has deep expertise on a range of illnesses, from malaria to Lyme disease to recurrent fevers.
“All of us here when we started seeing that coming through, not only from the CDC data but from our own testing, we were like, ‘Wow, what’s going on? This is very strange,’’’ Wiedermann said.Though initial signs pointed to the powerful A strain as the biggest concern this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said most of the illnesses have been caused by B/Victoria viruses, followed by A viruses.
More than 68% of the positive results from tests in clinical labs were linked to the influenza B virus, which had not been predominant since the 1992-93 season. Those infections have accounted for nearly half the hospitalizations reported to the CDC. That makes it imperative for parents to make sure their kids get a flu shot, even at this point in the season, the CDC said. In past years, about 75% of the children who died from the flu weren’t fully vaccinated.
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