Flu vaccines are not 100 percent effective but being vaccinated greatly reduces an individual's chance of getting sick with the flu. The current season is far from over but it is winding down, with flu cases steadily declining. However, the drop in new cases is coinciding with a steady increase in deaths from the current flu season's victims.
Aside from cases involving individuals not vaccinated against the flu, the spike in infections is attributed to a mismatch in the predominant strain that swept the United States and the strain chosen for vaccines distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. In fact, 65 percent of cases related to infections caused by the virus H3N2, the predominant strain this season, are due to strains different from the one used in the vaccine.
There's always a bit of guessing when it comes to choosing a vaccine strain but what scientists choose (one for the northern hemisphere and another for the southern hemisphere) are always guided by previous trends. Scientists simply gather all the information available to them and from there make the most accurate projections they can. Unfortunately, the H3N2 virus mutated after a strain has already been chosen and the corresponding vaccine developed.
This resulted in a vaccine that is just 23 percent effective against the flu. Effectiveness varies from year to year and figures can go anywhere from between 10 percent and 60 percent. With a below-average efficacy level in the flu vaccine, many of those who were vaccinated also got sick.
By mid-January, most areas in the U.S. reported baseline or worse levels of flu activity. Puerto Rico and 23 states recorded high activity while New York City and 10 states reported moderate activity. There were 10 states that experienced low flu activity while the last seven states observed minimal activity.
From Jan. 11 to 17, the Ohio Department of Health registered 692 flu cases, a big drop from numbers the previous week which was pegged at over 1,600. Flu deaths in adults are not reported in the state but four children have been recorded to have died from the flu.
In Oklahoma, 11 died last week, bringing flu-related deaths to 58. Last season, 61 deaths were reported.
In North Carolina, 9 have died from illnesses related to the flu, with total deaths in the state climbing to 136 for the 2014-2015 flu season.
For the week ending Jan. 17, the proportion of deaths associated with influenza and pneumonia based on the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System reach 9.3 percent, a couple of notches higher than the epidemic threshold set at 7.1 percent. The highest threshold before this was reached by the 2012-2013 season which clocked in at 9.9 percent.
