Jan. 4 (UPI) — Several viruses (seasonal respiratory flu, abdominal flu, COVID-19 and RSV) are multiplying in the United States and are expected to increase during the winter months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Prevention. Prevention.
The CDC said that “the number of acute respiratory illnesses that lead others to seek medical care is high and continues across the country. “
In week 52, of the 1,254 viruses reported through public fitness laboratories, 1,234 were influenza A viruses and 20 were influenza B viruses.
Nationally, flu positivity increased to 18. 7%, according to the CDC.
On a five-point color level, they are found in Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and New Hampshire. The lowest degrees are found in North Dakota, Vermont and Maine.
The CDC recommends that each and every person 6 months and older get a flu shot every year.
“Tis the season,” Dr. Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner, a medical epidemiologist in the influenza department at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told USA TODAY.
This season’s wave of flu cases will arrive later than in the past two years, CBS News reported. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the flu in the months before the pandemic was higher than in many pre-pandemic seasons.
Flu trends appear to largely match those of the 2019 to 2020 season, which also reached record levels around the New Year.
“In 2022, the combination of RSV, flu and COVID caused a public health emergency and a crisis in criteria of care in hospitals across the region. We have not experienced that and we do not expect it to happen this year.
That is known as a “tripledemic.”
According to the CDC, “COVID-19 activity is expanding in most of the country” and “RSV activity is very high in many parts of the country, especially among young children. “
COVID-19 test positivity has increased to 7.1%. RSV test positivity rose to 12.8%.
COVID-19 decides us through wastewater levels, the greater number of visits to emergency rooms and the percentage of positivity in laboratories.
The CDC is no longer tracking the total number of COIVD-19 cases, some states are reporting. And the states that gather knowledge do not have the maximum number of at-home tests.
“Based on CDC’s modeled estimates of outbreak growth, we expect the number of COVID-19 cases to continue to increase in the coming weeks, as they do in the winter,” the CDC said.
The CDC said the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine will work well against variants circulating lately.
The CDC last estimated that most COVID infections are from the XEC variant, which officials have said is closely related to previous strains.
In addition, the CDC reports a buildup of norovirus, better known as abdominal flu, which is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea due to inflammation of the abdomen and intestines, or gastroenteritis, according to the CDC.
The virus is also the No. 1 cause of foodborne illness in the U.S. and causes 58% of the illnesses acquired, according to the CDC.
About 2,500 norovirus outbreaks are reported in the United States each year, according to the CDC. Most norovirus outbreaks occur when infected people spread the virus to others through direct contact, including on cruise ships.
And the CDC is tracking the H5N1A edition of bird flu. Sixty-six human cases were reported in the United States last year, in addition to 37 in California.