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As JUCM News readers know, infectious disease and public health experts have been saying for weeks that we could see a severe flu season this year, especially compared to the last few when people wore masks and practiced social distancing due to COVID-19. Data are already proving them out, and the fact that they’re emerging so early in the season is raising red flags. Not only that, but some of the states with the highest …

As JUCM readers know, public health officials have expressed concern that the much dreaded—but previously unrealized—simultaneous spike in influenza and SARS-CoV-2 could overwhelm the U.S. healthcare system, kill unknown masses of patients, and pummel the nation’s economy. Unfortunately, fresh insights gleaned from the start of the U.S. flu season are doing nothing assuage those fears. In fact, Vanderbilt infectious disease professor and highly regarded public health expert William Schaffner, MD told NPR just last week, …

Public health advocates have been warning since year 1 of the pandemic that a simultaneous wave of influenza and COVID-19 could have devastating consequences to the U.S. population, healthcare system, and economy. To date, we’ve collectively managed to dodge that bullet. As we approach flu season this year, though, some experts are wondering out loud whether our luck might have run out. That concern is bolstered by the fact that Australia “had a very bad …

It’s been established that being “fully vaccinated” against SARS-CoV-2 means not only the full course of initial shots but also all available booster shots. One challenge in advising patients accordingly is that recommendations keep changing. The latest revelation from the Food and Drug Administration is that doses of booster shots may be modified by autumn 2022 in order to include some version of the omicron variant that has proved to be dominant since its discovery. …

After a couple of light seasons (presumably due to hygiene precautions designed to reduce spread of COVID-19), a full-force return of seasonal influenza was expected. What may not have been expected, however, is that said return of flu would occur well past what we consider the “season” to be. That’s exactly what’s happening in Florida right now, though—and the surge is coinciding with recent outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus, as well. All told, there have …

On paper, at this time of year, we expect to see incidence of seasonal influenza declining steadily from its December–February peak in the United States. Instead, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that flu activity is actually increasing across most of the country. This reverses a decline from mid-December through January. As recently as March 12 of this year, nearly 7% of all respiratory specimens tested at clinical labs turned up positive …