Influenza epidemic in the USA: 6 MILLION Americans infected with the flu, 3000 of them died

More than six million Americans have been infected with the flu and nearly 3,000 have died from the disease so far since October – the worst outbreak in a decade.

The latest data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also show that there were 53,000 hospitalizations at that time.

A total of 18 states reported ‘very high’ levels of flu in the week ending November 19, four more than in the previous seven-day period. New Mexico, Texas and Tennessee are the worst affected.

America’s flu season began early this year, with seasonal viruses returning with a vengeance after quarantines, face masks and other measures prevented exposure to healthy bacteria.

The wave of disease is also caused shortages of key medicinesincluding the children’s medicine amoxicillin — used to treat fever in children.

The CDC publishes weekly flu estimates of the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths caused by the disease during the season.

The latest numbers are 36 percent above the 4.4 million cases estimated in the previous week, and more than double the 2.8 million two weeks ago.

The number of deaths also rose from 1,300 recorded two weeks before.

The hospitalization rate was 11.3 admissions per 100,000 people in the week to November 19, higher than at any other time this time of year since 2010-2011.

Those suffering from the flu now account for 66 percent of the total number of those infected during the whole of last year, when there were 9 million cases. The flu season usually lasts from October to May.

Covid has recorded 2.2 million confirmed cases since October, but the real number is likely far higher – with many cases missed due to a lack of testing. The pandemic virus is also behind 14,000 deaths.

During 2009, America was hit by an epidemic of swine flu, which caused 60 million cases, 274,000 hospitalizations and 12,500 deaths.

Influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other seasonal threats have been absent since 2020 after restrictions to control Covid stopped their spread.

This year, Covid is still circulating, but has remained at around 300,000 cases per week since the beginning of October.

But this year they are back with a vengeance, spreading rapidly – and infecting many children for the first time.

Experts say there are more flu cases this year because the flu was on the sidelines for most of the pandemic.

The youngest children also have not built up defenses against viruses due to lack of exposure to good germs.

Warnings of a bad flu season were issued a few months ago after Australia and New Zealand — the forerunners of the US outbreak — faced record seasons.

Canberra recorded 65,000 cases by May this year, more than double the 30,000 in 2019, the year before the pandemic began.

The country’s children’s hospitals have also faced a surge in admissions – a warning to the US – forcing some to divert resources from other care.

But US officials did not heed the warnings and stocked up on drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is already reporting shortages of amoxicillin, a key pediatric antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia, respiratory infections and strep throat – all of which become more common after a flu infection.

Local pharmacies also said they were running out of Tamiflu, Augmentin – which contains amoxicillin – and Tylenol. There is also a shortage of Albuterol inhalers.

However, the Biden administration has spent more than $5 billion to introduce bivalent vaccines against Covid.

The CDC recommends that everyone over the age of six months get an annual flu shot.

The bivalent booster injection against Covid is also offered to everyone over the age of five.

But less than 12 percent of those eligible came forward for the Covid vaccine.

Influenza vaccine uptake is also lagging with 150 million doses sold to date – 13 million less than at the same time last year.

To encourage acceptance, the Biden administration launched a more than $475 million campaign that will last six weeks.