Flu vaccines this year are only effective 23 percent of the time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
At least 45 children have died from influenza since September, including 19 during a single week in January. This is up from 27 at the same time last year. These young victims were located in 18 states, and the virus is widespread in 46 states across the United States. The disease is also hitting senior citizens especially hard this season.
Influenza exists in several varieties, and regularly evolves into new forms. Every flu season, medical researchers must design new vaccines, aimed at a specific type of the virus. This year, the H3N2 influenza virus which currently makes up the majority of infections mutated differently than researchers predicted.
Officials for the CDC report that effectiveness of flu vaccines vary between 10 and 60 percent.
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) prepared by the CDC states that reduced effectiveness of vaccines makes treatment with antivirals more important than normal.
"CDC always recommends antiviral medications as an adjunct to vaccination, and their potential public health benefit is magnified in the context of reduced vaccine effectiveness. All hospitalized patients and all outpatients at high risk for serious complications from influenza should be treated as soon as possible with a neuraminidase inhibitor medication if influenza is suspected," CDC officials wrote.
Influenza deaths among Americans was at epidemic levels during the first 10 days of 2015, according to a weekly update from the CDC.
"Between October 1, 2014 and January 10, 2015, 8,199 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations were reported. The overall hospitalization rate was 29.9 per 100,000 population. The highest rate of hospitalization was among adults aged ≥65 years (143.3 per 100,000 population), followed by children aged 0-4 years (30.0 per 100,000 population)," CDC officials reported.
Influenza cases are starting to decline in some areas of the country, according to the new report. Flu infections often rise and fall during the course of a season.
Despite the low success rate of this year's flu vaccine, government officials are still recommending that nearly every American over the age of six months receives the vaccine. People are being encouraged to seek medical help if and when symptoms of influenza first appear. Physicians are able to prescribe anti-viral drugs, which are showing better results than current vaccines against this year's strain of influenza. These drugs can reduce the length of illness when taken in the first 48 hours after symptoms appear. Some healthcare providers, however, are reluctant to administer the drugs, since they do not cure the illness.
A universal influenza vaccine could soon be developed, providing protection against all forms of the virus, for up to 20 years.
