FluView: 2018-2019 Influenza Season: Week 49 ending December 8, 2018

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (U.S.). Influenza Division.
• Description:
  All data are preliminary and may change as more reports are received.
  
  Synopsis:
  
  Influenza activity in the United States remained slightly elevated. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, influenza A(H3N2), and influenza B viruses continue to co-circulate, with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses reported most commonly by public health laboratories since September 30, 2018. Below is a summary of the key December 8, 2018:
  
  • Viral Surveillance: Influenza A viruses have predominated in the United States since the beginning of October. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza in clinical laboratories remains low.
  
  o Virus Characterization: The majority of influenza viruses characterized antigenically and genetically are similar to the cell-grown reference viruses representing the 2018–2019 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccine viruses.
  
  o Antiviral Resistance: All viruses tested show susceptibility to the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir, zanamivir, and peramivir).
  
  • Influenza-like Illness Surveillance: The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) remained at 2.2%, which is at the national baseline of 2.2%. Five of 10 regions reported ILI at or above their region-specific baseline level.
  
  o ILI State Activity Indictor Map: One state experienced high ILI activity; Puerto Rico and four states experienced moderate ILI activity; New York City, the District of Columbia and nine states experienced low ILI activity; and 36 states experienced minimal ILI activity.
  
  • Geographic Spread of Influenza: The geographic spread of influenza in three states was reported as widespread; 10 states reported regional activity; 21 states reported local activity; the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 16 states reported sporadic activity; and Guam did not report.
  
  • Influenza-associated Hospitalizations A cumulative rate of 1.9 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 population was reported.
  
  • Pneumonia and Influenza Mortality: The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was below the system-specific epidemic threshold in the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance System.
  
  • Influenza-associated Pediatric Deaths: One influenza-associated pediatric death was reported to CDC for week 49.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Disease Outbreaks Influenza, Human/epidemiology Public Health Surveillance
• Series:
  FluView
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Newsletter ; Statistics
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  2017
• Issue:
  49
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:eda7c73696bf2139a0a1febf684717bd0b29d7de48eb911290ec9f6c79b747e900687ff650073590cfc333000334ef0d1911ebaf6e5cb0b91fa1a6b6d724602c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/61289/cdc_61289_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 522.96 KB ]