{"id":65951,"date":"2022-09-29T08:50:46","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=65951"},"modified":"2022-09-29T13:10:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T19:10:58","slug":"flu-is-here-doctors-bracing-for-high-number-of-infections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/flu-is-here-doctors-bracing-for-high-number-of-infections\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu is already here and doctors are bracing for a high number of infections this year"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
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Flu season has arrived early in the United States, with Texas and New Mexico seeing the highest number of cases. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flu season has started early in the U.S., with cases rising two months before influenza season typically begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlu is here. It\u2019s early for us to see hospitalizations. Historically, we don\u2019t see flu cases in September. We usually see an uptick around Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, this flu season is early,\u201d said Dr. Michelle Barron<\/a>, UCHealth\u2019s senior medical director of infection prevention and control and one of the\u00a0top infectious disease experts in Colorado<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s urging people to get their flu vaccines as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce flu cases start rising, they\u2019ll go up fast. And we don\u2019t want people to be left without protection,\u201d said Barron, who is also a\u00a0professor<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0University of Colorado School of Medicine<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, only a handful of patients have needed hospital care for the influenza virus in the UCHealth system. Around the U.S. cases have spiked in the southwest, with Texas so far logging the highest number of cases. New Mexico is also seeing spikes, as is Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re seeing cases at all this early means it\u2019s going to keep circulating more widely in the community,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n

She and other medical experts had predicted an early flu season for 2022 and early 2023<\/a>. They also are bracing for much higher influenza activity than in recent years. That\u2019s because Australian health officials saw an early, severe flu season during their fall and winter earlier this year.<\/p>\n

North America typically follows the same patterns that emerge in the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic likely is driving higher flu case numbers this year. Back in 2020 and early 2021, before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, many people were wearing masks and avoiding close contact with others in crowded, indoor spaces.<\/p>\n

Those preventive measures drove down both COVID-19 and flu cases, which were almost non-existent two years ago.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s flu season also was relatively mild. The near absence of flu cases has helped people stay well. At the same time, our bodies don\u2019t have recent immunities to flu, so infections could hit people harder this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are off kilter now and will be off kilter for a while,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n

Most UCHealth patients treated for flu so far have tested positive for Type A influenza, which normally arrives first. There have been some Type B cases as well.<\/p>\n

The majority of flu cases so far have emerged among children and teens younger than age 18. That\u2019s not surprising since kids are back in school, Barron said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s typical for flu cases to rise in the fall and winter largely thanks to human behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are in school. They\u2019re in close proximity to each other. Temperatures go down. More people are indoors and there are mass gatherings over the holidays,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n

To avoid getting sick, Barron is encouraging people to get their flu shots and a COVID-19 booster if they\u2019re eligible. It\u2019s safe to get both shots at the same time, and you can even get both doses in the same arm.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the new COVID-19 booster shots that specifically fight the newest omicron variants<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flu season has started early in the U.S., with cases rising two months before influenza season typically begins. \u201cFlu is here. It\u2019s early for us to see hospitalizations. Historically, we don\u2019t see flu cases in September. We usually see an uptick around Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, this flu season is early,\u201d said Dr. Michelle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":65954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4860,162,4797],"class_list":["post-65951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-covid-19","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-seasonal-flu-treatment-and-flu-shots"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFlu is here. 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