CDC: Vaccine can’t handle this ‘severe’ flu season

The 2014-2015 flu season is “severe,” especially for those 65 and over, children under 5 years old and those with other medical conditions, warned Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in a teleconferenced media briefing. Frieden also admitted the flu vaccine this season has been particularly ineffective, largely because the virus has mutated to a virulent strain of the H3N2 virus that is not included in the vaccine. About two-thirds of the H3N2 viruses analyzed this season are different from the H3N2 virus that is included in this year’s CDC-approved flu vaccine. On Jan. 5, the CDC reported that with about half the 15-week flu season now gone, 43 states are expecting widespread high flu activity. Patient visits to the doctor for influenza-like illnesses, ILI, now are almost even with the peak of the 2012-2013 season, the last time H3N2 viruses predominated. For the week...