This posting will review any news on the influenza epidemic of 2017-2018 since last week.

The main news comes from the official CDC reporting that is issued every week at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#ILIMap

The last report, issued near the end of last week updates the trends, and the results are as follows:

• The influenza virus epidemic of 2017-2018 shows more and more evidence that it has finally peaked and is starting to drop!  
• The rate of the most awful part of any epidemic, the number of children across the country who die, continues to drop dramatically.  In the last week of reporting the number of children who have died is now less than 10, the lowest rate since November/December of this winter.  
• And so the influenza virus epidemic of 2017-2018 is finally doing what it was of course certain to happen, it is ending.  It is not over yet, that takes a month or so, but week to week it is very likely fewer and fewer people with have infections with the influenza virus.  Of course colds and flus will continue, as they do all year, but they won’t be caused by the influenza virus at all by the end of March or April.

That’s the latest data, it all is consistent with the basic fact that every year the influenza virus causes millions of colds and flus across America, typically from December through March/April.  All but about 1-5 in a million children who catch this virus recover very well, making this infection far safer than the TV would like us to believe. The flu shot helps prevent illness from the influenza virus and from severe illness as well.

We hope you and your family get through the remaining couple or so months of this year’s influenza virus epidemic safely.  Let us know if you need our help.

To your health,
Dr Arthur Lavin

In case you missed it, I recently wrote an article that helps provide some background to this topic: The Language of Viral Diseases- What do we mean when we say: a cold, the flu, viral infection, stomach flu?