Nine Flu Deaths Reported Last Week

The lingering impact of the 2022-2023 flu season is still being counted at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On September 1, 2023, the CDC's Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report confirmed that 6.5% of the deaths during the week ending August 26, 2023, were due to pneumonia, influenza, and/or COVID-19.

Among the 1,484 deaths reported for this week by the National Center for Health Statistics Mortality Surveillance, nine listed influenza as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate.

The CDC's Week #34 report did disclose some good news regarding pediatric fatalities.

No influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC last week.

A total of 172 influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the 2022-2023 season have been reported, more significant than the last flu season when 49 flu-related deaths were confirmed.

This unfortunate increase may be related to decreased non-adults getting an annual flu shot.

The CDC's Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity webinar on August 31, 2023, revealed that during the 2022-2023 flu season, only 55.1% of children received an annual flu shot.

This data compares with 2019-2022 when 62.2% of children got an annual flu shot.

As of September 2023, the CDC encourages most people six months and older to get at least one flu shot ahead of the 2023-2024 flu season.

The World Health Organization recently published Influenza Update N° 452, indicating influenza detections remained low globally, with activity in many countries in the southern hemisphere and Oceania decreasing after having peaked in recent weeks.

In the U.S., over 100 million influenza vaccines have been distributed to health clinics and pharmacies.