Fueled by a brand new viral pressure, flu is hitting California early — and docs are warning they anticipate the season could also be notably robust on younger kids.
Concentrations of flu detected in wastewater have surged within the San Francisco Bay Space, and the take a look at positivity fee is rising in Los Angeles County and Orange County, in response to state and county knowledge. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits for flu are additionally rising in L.A. and Orange counties.
“We’re on the level now the place we’re beginning to see a pointy rise in flu instances. This can be a few weeks sooner than we normally expertise, however very a lot akin to what was seen within the Southern Hemisphere’s expertise with flu throughout their winter,” stated Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional doctor director of infectious ailments at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
At Kaiser, flu instances are primarily being seen in clinics to this point, however hospitalizations usually rise after Christmas. “We anticipate to see the identical this yr, too,” Hudson stated.
“The variety of instances seems to be larger at an earlier time within the ordinary flu season than we’ve seen in years previous,” she added.
Flu ranges are excessive in San Francisco’s sewage in addition to in wastewater throughout San José, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, in response to WastewaterSCAN and the Santa Clara County Public Well being Division.
One space of concern this winter has been the rise of a comparatively new flu subvariant, referred to as H3N2 Flu A subclade Okay, which appeared towards the top of summer season. That was months after officers determined which strains this fall’s flu vaccine would goal.
Subclade Okay “is inflicting an energetic, early flu season, with extra instances occurring in some nations inside the Northern Hemisphere,” the California Division of Public Well being stated.
It stays unclear whether or not subclade Okay will scale back the efficacy of this yr’s flu shot. Information just lately launched in Britain confirmed this season’s vaccines had been 70% to 75% efficient towards hospitalization for kids from the flu, and 30% to 40% efficient in adults, which is inside expectations, the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention famous.
This implies “that influenza vaccination stays an efficient software in stopping influenza-related hospitalizations this season,” in response to the company.
Nonetheless, the supposed effectiveness of the flu vaccine towards symptomatic illness brought on by the brand new subvariant stays unsure, the World Well being Group stated.
Total, flu charges in L.A. County stay comparatively low, however are on the rise. Throughout California, flu hospitalizations are likewise low however rising.
On a nationwide degree, severity indicators stay low, in response to the CDC.
However the expertise in different nations have led some specialists to fret one other extreme flu season may very well be on deck for California.
Australia’s flu season, which is seasonally reverse from California’s, got here far sooner than ordinary, hit with report power and was notably onerous on the nation’s kids.
Japan, Taiwan and Britain have additionally reported early spikes to their flu seasons.
“Whether or not or not this season might be extra extreme, solely time will inform,” Hudson stated of California. “We all know that we’ve a mutation … which can make the flu vaccine work much less effectively. However the vaccine nonetheless provides glorious safety towards hospitalization and demise, even with the mutated pressure in circulation.”
Primarily based on what occurred within the Southern Hemisphere — notably in Australia — “we predict this season to have a disproportionate influence on kids beneath the age of 10,” Hudson stated.
Already, three flu-associated pediatric deaths have been reported nationally this season, together with two Friday.
In the course of the flu season that resulted in September, 280 kids died from flu — essentially the most for the reason that swine flu pandemic season of 2009-10.
Total, the 2024-25 season was thought of the worst flu season since 2017-18, and hit adults onerous as effectively. Not less than 38,000 individuals died from the flu final season, well being authorities estimate.
Solely a bit greater than half of the kids who died from flu had an underlying medical situation, and 89% of those that died weren’t vaccinated, in response to the CDC’s Nationwide Middle for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses.
Among the many kids who died from flu final season, the commonest issues skilled earlier than demise had been shock or sepsis, pneumonia, acute respiratory misery syndrome, seizures and injury to the mind.
Early analysis of flu can assist stave off the worst by giving those that are sick time to take antiviral drugs like Tamiflu. Three out of 5 kids who died from the flu through the 2024-25 season by no means acquired antiviral remedy.
Emergency warning indicators of flu issues in kids embrace bother respiration; bluish lips or face; ribs pulling in with every breath; chest ache; extreme muscle ache, during which a baby might refuse to stroll; dehydration, indicators of which embrace no urine for eight hours or no tears when crying; seizures; fevers above 104 levels that aren’t managed by remedy; fever or cough that enhance however return or worsen; and any fever in newborns youthful than 12 weeks.
Because the official begin of the respiratory virus season Oct. 1, the CDC estimates there have been not less than 1,900 flu-related deaths, 49,000 hospitalizations and 4.6 million diseases nationwide.
Docs have been urging all people to get the flu vaccine — the CDC recommends it for everybody age 6 months and up.
However vaccination charges have been lagging. Amongst kids age 6 months to 17 years, an estimated 40.8% had been vaccinated as of the primary week of December, in response to the Nationwide Immunization Survey. Within the final season earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, flu vaccination charges had been notably larger by this time of yr, at 51.2%.
On the finish of final flu season, solely 49.8% of youngsters and youths had been vaccinated, the survey estimated, down from the 62.4% who had gotten their pictures by the top of the 2019-20 flu season.
The decline in flu vaccinations has been seen domestically, too. “Notably, fewer influenza vaccines have been administered this yr in comparison with the identical interval final yr,” the Orange County Well being Care Company stated.
It takes about two weeks for cover to construct, however getting vaccinated as quickly as attainable earlier than journey or seeing family and friends “helps preserve you and your family members safer,” the L.A. County Division of Public Well being stated in an announcement to The Occasions.
