New York, 19 February (IANS). This is the first time that the fluid (influenza) in the state of California, USA, has become a more deadly respiratory disease since the introduction of the Kovid-19 epidemic. Due to this, there is a huge crowd of patients in hospitals and doctors are facing difficulties.
According to the report of the news agency Xinhua, this boom in flu cases has come at a time when the rate of vaccination is extremely low. According to the US Disease Control and Prevention Center (CDC), only 44% of adults and 46% of children have been able to get flu vaccine this season.
Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious pathologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the hospitals are fully filled. He said, “Flu cases are seen everywhere.” More than 70% of cases have been found to be flu in respiratory virus tests being conducted in local clinics in the San Francisco Gulf region. This figure is higher than Kovid-19, RSV (Respiratory synchronized virus) and normal winter.
By 1 February, the flu test positivity rate in California had reached 27.8%, while RSV cases were 5% and Kovid’s 2.4%. Since July 1, California has recorded at least 561 deaths in Flu, mostly of people over 65 years of age. Apart from this, 10 children also died of flu this season, while only 3 children died of Kovid.
So far, estimated 2.9 crore people have been infected with flu, 3.7 lakh hospitals have been hospitalized in the 2024-25 flu season across the US, and 16,000 people have died. Experts are concerned that this year two different types of flu – H1N1 and H3N2 – are spreading together, which has increased the risk of frequent infections in people.
Many complications are seen in severe flu cases, including a dangerous brain disease “acute necrotizing encephalopathy” (ANE), which is especially found in children and whose mortality is about 50%.
The situation in hospitals in California has become like a peak round of Kovid epidemic. Pneumonia and patients suffering from ICU flu are filled with patients with serious breath problems.
Experts have warned that many patients after the flu are suffering from MRSA pneumonia, which can permanently damage the lungs. MRSA is a bacterium that has many antibiotics neutralized.
Health officials say that there is still the right time to get vaccinated. Although the vaccine cannot stop every infection, it can reduce serious illness and the risk of hospitalization to a great extent.
Experts estimate that flu cases may remain at a high level from the next one to one and a half months. In addition, there is a possibility of another wave of Influenza B in the spring. As such, there is a strict need to adopt vaccination and prevention measures.
-IANS
AS/
