US flu epidemic worsens, 29 children dead
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 20, 2013 0:17
A flu epidemic gripping the United States is more severe than usual, striking the elderly especially hard, health authorities said Friday as they also announced 29 child victims.
With the nation only about halfway through the season, complications are likely to worsen for those who caught the flu, said Tom Frieden, chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We expect to see both the number and rates of hospitalization and deaths to rise further,” Frieden told reporters.
The CDC said 30 states and New York City are reporting high influenza rates, up from 24 states last week. And more than 5,000 people have required hospitalization to treat their flu symptoms. New York has declared a state of emergency over the crisis.
The flu kills an average of about a hundred children in the United States each year. The toll was 34 in 2011-2012.
So far, about half of confirmed flu cases concern people aged 65 and older, with a high hospitalization rate of 82 per 100,000.
People older than 65 usually account for about 90 percent of the 36,000 annual flu deaths around the country.
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