oh, i see why it's been labeled an "epidemic" (a word often thrown about in the news today).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/1...WD20130111
(Reuters) - Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
That is just above the epidemic threshold of 7.2 percent. Nine of the 10 U.S. regions had "elevated" flu activity, confirming that seasonal flu has spread across the country and reached high levels several weeks before the usual time of late January or February. The other region, the Southwest and California, had "normal" flu activity last week.
This year's flu vaccine is 62 percent effective, scientists reported on Friday in the CDC's weekly publication.
That is considered "moderate" effectiveness and means that almost four in 10 people who receive the vaccine and are exposed to the virus will nevertheless become infected. It is line with the effectiveness of previous years' flu vaccines, which typically range from 50 percent to 70 percent, Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the CDC's influenza division, said in a telephone conference call on Friday.
Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from flu, even in non-epidemic years. The CDC in its report did not give a total number of deaths due to flu.
