Influenza widespread in most states

CDC officials reported Friday that influenza is widespread across the continental United States. The H3N2 subtype appears to be the most predominant strain, said Daniel Jernigan, MD, director of CDC's influenza division. "Flu is everywhere in the U.S. right now," Jernigan said during a conference call with reporters. "There's lots of flu in lots of places." According to Jernigan, the current influenza season started early and could be peaking. He noted, however, that "we have a lot more flu to go," and other strains of the influenza virus, such as type B, may arise. Jernigan also noted a big increase in hospitalizations of people with laboratory-confirmed influenza. "There are 22.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 people,” he said, “up from 13.7 last week. So we saw an almost doubling in numbers just in the last week." CDC officials also noted there have been 20 influenza-associated pediatric deaths reported this season.