News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – US flu indicators continued their decline last week, though many states are still reporting brisk levels of flu activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Deaths from pneumonia and flu in the United States rose sharply last week, with a rise in hospitalizations that continues to hit older people the hardest, though other disease indicators showed declines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity indicators showed some wobble last week, which might suggest that activity in the United States is starting to ebb in some locations or could reflect some artifacts of disease reporting that health officials sometimes see over the holiday period.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity continued its sharp rise through the last week of 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

"Reports of influenza-like-illness (ILI) are nearing what have been peak levels during moderately severe seasons," said Joe Bresee, MD, chief of epidemiology and prevention in the CDC's flu division, in a CDC statement today.

Editor's Note: The fourth paragraph was revised on Jan 2 to clarify the current situation regarding H3N2 dominance.

(CIDRAP News) – US influenza activity continued its ascent last week, judging from the high volumes of patients seeking care for the disease at doctors' offices, while flu indicators in Europe showed a clear spike, according to the latest surveillance reports.

(CIDRAP News) – An epidemiologic study from Denmark has raised the possibility that influenza and fever during pregnancy increase the risk of autism in infants, but the findings are far from conclusive.