Flu Cases Up in NYC Amid Reports of Ineffective Vaccine

City officials said Friday that flu season is heating up in New York as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed this year’s vaccine is less than half as effective as in previous years. 

The city Health Department said that in the last week of December, 13 percent of patients who went to New York City doctor’s offices with flu-like symptoms tested positive to the influenza virus, nearly twice the previous week's rate.

Statewide, 14 percent of tests for the flu in the last week of December week came back positive. So far, one pediatric patient has died from the flu in the state this season, according to state Department of Health figures.

This year’s flu has the potential to be particularly hazardous, particularly for young and elderly New Yorkers. The CDC says this year’s iteration of the vaccine is doing a poor job of protecting people from getting the bug. It’s only 23 percent effective, compared to about 50 or 60 percent in other years.

The poor showing is primarily due to the fact that the vaccine doesn’t protect against the strain of the virus that ended up causing about two-thirds of the illnesses this winter. That strain tends to cause more hospitalizations and deaths, particularly in the elderly, making this a particularly bad winter to have a problem with the flu vaccine.

Nationwide, this year’s flu season is shaping up to be as bad as or worse than the nasty season of two winters ago. Hospitalization rates in people 65 and older are higher than they were at the same point in the 2012-13 season, according to CDC data.

Despite the issues with the vaccine, the city Health Department is still recommending every New Yorker who is more than six months old get the vaccine.

Anyone who does get infected is recommended to go to the doctor for an antiviral medicine to help decrease the duration and severity of the virus. Currently, three anti-flu drugs are on the market – Tamiflu, Relenza and Rapivab, which was recently approved by the FDA.

Health officials also urge anyone who was sick to stay home to stop the spread of the virus.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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