WHO warns of worsening influenza season

The World Health Organization expressed their concern about the ongoing bad flu season. WHO said the current influenza season is getting so worse that it can overpower the existing method of treating the infections.

Issuing the warning together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. officials said that in the surging influenza season virus can mutate, thus turning the current vaccines into inefficient methods to stop the infections.

Influenza (commonly known as "the flu") is an acute respiratory illness caused by one of the family of influenza viruses. In infants, persons over the age of 65 years, and those with chronic medical conditions, flu can lead to pneumonia, hospitalization, and even death. Each winter, influenza engulfs 36,000 lives in America, most of them elderly and children, and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu-related complications.

In this season, the flu has spread in almost every state in the United States. “This week 44 states are reporting widespread influenza activity. This is up from 31 states reporting widespread activity last week. Five states are reporting regional activity, making 49 states overall in one of our top two categories of activity,” said Dr. Joe Bresee, chief of the branch of epidemiology and prevention at CDC.

Why the flu season is getting worse is partly because this year's vaccine is a good match for only about 40% of the viruses, while the flu shots can fend off 70% to 90% of flu bugs in good years, CDC officials said Friday.

What worried the health agencies most is that this year’s flu vaccine is no longer able to cover all the strains of the viruses that have been circulating throughout the country. Some of the circulating viruses differing from those in the vaccine, the CDC said. “Two of the three common circulating types or subtypes [of viruses] are not as well-covered by the vaccine as an ideal match this year,” Dr. Bresee added.

The number of children who have died from the flu has risen to10 since Sept. 30, the flu season's official start. Of the total fatalities, four were due to Staphylococcus aureus coinfections, a complication that the CDC recently urged physicians to watch for and report.

Health experts know that influenza viruses mutate constantly, so they meet throughout the year to monitor the flu seasons and consider how to formulate the vaccine.
Flu vaccines contain the three most common circulating strains, usually two from the Type A family of influenza, and one from Type B.