Influenza is Hitting Young Adults Harder than Ever
This flu season is hitting young adults much harder than past seasons according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.
According to the CDC data, people between the ages of 18 and 64 make up approximately 61 percent of all influenza-related hospitalizations this year. Worse still, more than half the flu-related deaths recorded this season occurred in adults 25 to 64 years of age.
These numbers are significantly worse than previous influenza seasons, where 25 to 64 year olds only accounted for less than a quarter of flu-related deaths, and young adults were only 35 percent of that year's total hospitalizations for influenza.
Influenza infections commonly affect the elderly and ill the most, and this still holds true, with ill seniors past the age of 65 still making up the majority of flu-related deaths. However, this most recent report backs the last report's hypothesis that healthy seniors seem to be resilient to this year's virus, fighting it off more effectively than some members of the younger generations.
It still remains unclear as to why this is happening, but some CDC experts suggest that these resilient seniors are survivors of multiple previous H1N1 influenza virus strains, and thus have more antibodies suited to battling this year's strain of the flu.
The data also supports the last report's hypothesis that the flu is specifically targeting the overweight. The latest data indicates that the majority of recorded severe infections of the virus are in people with a body mass index of 30 or higher, which is considered obese.
This most recent slew of data has also indicated that pregnant women are at a particularly high risk of developing pneumonia after contracting this season's strain of the influenza virus.
The CDC has stated that while these numbers show unusual patterns, it remains unclear why the flu is affecting the heavy and pregnant the worst.
You can track the flu's spread across the U.S., and follow weekly reports from the CDC, with the CDC's FluView tracker.
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