Epidemiologic Notes and Reports Update: Influenza
Activity -- United States
Influenza activity continued to increase throughout January and
into February 1985. For the week ending February 9, 10 states
(Alabama, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania,
South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Washington) and the District of
Columbia reported widespread outbreaks of influenza-like illness,
and
14 states reported regional outbreaks. Family physicians who
report
weekly to CDC noted an average of 11 cases of influenza-like
illness
for the week ending January 30, compared with the average of 6.6
cases
at the beginning of January.
Of total deaths reported from 121 U.S. cities, the proportion
associated with pneumonia and influenza (P&I) has increased from
about
5% at the beginning of January to 6.9% for the week ending February
9. P&I deaths most recently exceeded 6% in 1980-1981, when many
type
A(H3N2) virus outbreaks occurred, and P&I deaths peaked at 6.9%.
A total of 491 type A(H3N2) isolates have been reported to CDC
through the week ending February 1 from the network of WHO
collaborating laboratories in the United States, compared with 44
isolates reported through December 28, 1984. Including recent
reports
from Indiana, Kansas, and Virginia, influenza type A(H3N2) isolates
have been reported from 42 states this season. Type B isolates
have
been reported infrequently this season, accounting for only five of
the 496 isolates reported by the collaborating laboratories.
Reported by E Balkovic, PhD, Veterans Administration Hospital, New
Haven, Connecticut; F Hayden, MD, University of Virginia Hospital,
Charlottesville; Participating physicians of the American Academy
of
Family Physicians; State and Territorial Epidemiologists; State
Laboratory Directors; Other collaborating laboratories; Statistical
Svcs Br, Div of Surveillance and Epidemiologic Studies,
Epidemiology
Program Office, Influenza Br, Div of Viral Diseases, Center for
Infectious Diseases, CDC.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: The data from the indicators of influenza activity
indicate that U.S. influenza outbreaks are now having a significant
impact on illness and death. These indicators are statistical
indices
of actual numbers of cases and cannot be used to reliably
extrapolate
the numerical incidence of influenza.
Disclaimer
All MMWR HTML documents published before January 1993 are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to [email protected].
