CDC Warns of Second Wave of Flu Cases

As the cold weather (hopefully) comes to an end, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that a different flu strain has been spreading in the last few weeks, CNN.com reports. The devastating flu season has started to wane, but the CDC’s weekly surveillance report found that the previously prevalent A-strain H3N2 flu virus is now less reported than B viruses.

For the week ending March 17, the CDC found that nearly 58% of all lab-confirmed flu cases were caused by B-strain viruses. The strains that circulated throughout flu season were a combination of A viruses (H3N2 and H1N1) and B viruses.

Even though the H3N2 strain tends to be more severe and lead to more hospitalizations than B strains, the CDC recommends that parents of young children should be wary of this new wave of B viruses. Influenza B has a tendency to have a greater impact on young children, a CDC spokeswoman told CNN. Flu shots are recommended for the unvaccinated, and the CDC notes that it’s possible for someone who has already been sick with one strain of the flu to catch a different strain.

Through the 11^th week of 2018, the CDC reported that 4,759 respiratory specimens tested positive in labs for the flu, with the season’s total up to 246,766 positive specimens. There were five additional flu-related pediatric deaths in week 11; in the 2017-2018 flu season, 133 children have died, CNN reported.