By Bara Vaida
Influenza, a disease caused by a virus that attacks the lungs, is endemic to humanity. The virus is always circulating and often strike populations in the late fall or winter seasons. The word “influenza” comes from the Italian word “influence,” meaning an illness that was influenced by the cold.
Research has shown that high humidity and warm temperatures hinder the spread of the flu, which is why the disease strikes during colder months of the year.
When flu virus attacks the respiratory system, it can weaken the immune system leaving the body vulnerable to contracting other serious diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis, and cause death. The flu and pneumonia remain among the top ten causes of death in the U.S. Older people, pregnant women, children and those with certain chronic health conditions are at most risk for flu complications.
Over the past several years, there have been more studies showing “strong associations” between the development of respiratory infections, especially influenza, and heart attacks and strokes in older adults. The flu virus can cause an inflammatory response in the heart and brain that lingers weeks, increasing the risk of heart attacks and stroke, the studies say.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the flu infects from 9.5 million to 35.6 million people in the U.S. Annually. During the 2017-2018 flu season, about 80,000 people died from the flu and 900,000 were hospitalized, the highest recorded in 40 years. In previous years, the CDC has said that the flu causes, in the range of, 12,000 to 56,000 deaths and between 140,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations. On average, about 5 percent to 20 percent of the population will contract the flu annually, costing $10.4 billion in direct medical spending and $16.3 billion in workdays lost.
Public health officials monitor the flu virus to determine what vaccine pharmaceutical companies should make. The determination is made six months in advance – February for the Northern Hemisphere and September for the Southern Hemisphere – to give drug companies time to make the vaccine and regulators time to ensure their safety. Public health officials urge everyone over the age of 6 months to get an annual flu vaccine. Last flu season, the CDC said 57.9 percent of Americans got a flu shot, a slight drop from the 59 percent in the year before that.
However, vaccine effectiveness fluctuates because the virus mutates quickly and public health officials can’t always match the strains causing illness that year.
Because the flu vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective, researchers continue to work on developing a “universal flu” vaccine – that is, one that targets a piece of the virus that doesn’t mutate. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says scientists are far from developing a vaccine that could target all the versions of flu viruses that are circulating, but he says scientists may be closer to developing a vaccine that can target one of the more common strains that cause the most illness.
In covering the flu, reporters can monitor the CDC’s FluView to get weekly national and regional updates on flu outbreaks. This U.S. Map provides a weekly summary of flu cases and is a good source for finding out what is happening in the local community.
Questions reporters might consider:
- How many people were infected by the flu in the community last year and how many were hospitalized or died? Were there any children that died?
- What was the vaccination rate?
- How well do people in the community understand the flu?
- Are doctors encouraging their patients to get the flu shot?
- How well prepared are local health providers and hospitals for flu season that was as bad as last year’s?
- Are there enough laboratories to test for the flu?
- Do hospitals have enough respirators and other equipment for flu patients?
- Visit one of the influenza labs in your state that report to the CDC, learn who the researchers are and ask how they are monitoring the flu.
- Liz Seegert, AHCJ’s topic leader on aging, compiled other questions for reporters to consider when covering the flu
Recent coverage
80,000 People Died of the Flu Last Winter – Associated Press, September 2018
Get Ready for the Flu Season With New Angles – AHCJ, September 2018
Pediatricians Say All Children Should Get Flu Shots ASAP, Fox.com, September 2018
Flu Season 2018-2019: When, Where to Get Your Shot, How Bad Will It Be This Year: Newsweek, September 2018
Best Time to Get Flu Shot is Earlier Than You Think: Time, September 2018
AAP Urges Flu Shot Over Nasal Spray For Kids When Possible: CIDRAP, September 2018
Fast Acting Flu Drug Shows Strong Potential, But Clinical Trial Results Also Raise Concerns – STATNews.com, September 2018
What Australia’s Flu Season Tells Us About Our Own – AARP August 2018
A New Push for A Universal Flu Vaccine – Scientific American, May 2018
Covering U.S. Efforts to Create A Universal Vaccine – AHCJ, March 2018
Why Flu Vaccines So Often Fail – Science magazine examines why flu vaccine varies in effectiveness and why a better flu vaccine is needed (9/20/17)
Flu experts
William Schaffner, M.D., professor of preventive medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 615-322-2037, mwilliam.schaffner@vanderbilt.edu
Wendy Sue Swanson, M.D., pediatrician and chief of digital innovation at Seattle Children’s Hospital, 206-987-5147
Laura Riley, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical Center, 646-962-9564
Litjen (L.J.) Tan, chief strategy officer, Immunization Action Coalition, member of the Health and Human Service Department’s National Vaccine Advisory Committee, 651-647-9009, lj.tan@immunize.org
Michael Osterholm, director, Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, mto@umn.edu 612-625-4110 (media affairs)
Robert H. Hopkins, Jr., MD, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 501-686-5236
Patricia Stinchfield, R.N., M.S., C.P.N.P., C.I.C., senior director of infectious prevention and control at Children’s Minnesota, 651-220-6444
Kathleen Neuzil, M.D., director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, 410-706-4946, mkneuzil@som.umaryland.edu
Kanswar Talaat, M.D., assistant scientist, International Health Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins University, 410-502-9627
Marla Dalton, executive director, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 301-656-0003 x150, mdalton@nfid.org
Flor Munoz, M.D., associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, florm@bcm.edu
Kristen Nordland, press officer at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She handles all flu questions for the CDC. Office: 404-639-7387, Mobile: 404-956-0336, hok4@cdc.gov
Andy Weisser, Communications and Public Relations Consultant for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, who can connect reporters with flu experts: aweisser@earthlink.net, Office: 818-703-6444, Cell: 818-451-7847
U.S. government sources
CDC Flu 2018-2018 Flu Season page
CDC Flu Activity and Surveillance
NIH Research on How Influenza Spreads and Developing New Vaccines
Influenza Genome Sequencing Project
National Vaccine Program Office
The business of the flu
Flu Manufacturers and their Products – CDC detail on flu manufacturers
An explainer on the U.S. flu vaccine regulatory process:
A primer on new technologies used to manufacture better flu vaccines
Big PhRMA Has the Flu, Wired February 2018. Why vaccine makers don’t want to invest in a better vaccine.
The Business of the Flu Vaccine – A CNBC analysis of the size of the flu market and the manufacturers (10/19/15)
Social determinants and the flu
The Relationship Between Burden of Disease and Health Equity – Canadian evidence network on the disproportionate impact of the flu (5/1/16)
Research on the flu’s connection to heart attacks and stroke
Clinical Infectious Disease, June 2018
European Respiratory Journal, volume 52, issue 3, 2018
New England Journal of Medicine, January 2018
Oncotarget, November 2017
Other Research
Tamiflu’s effectiveness – A May 2014 Cochrane review of the effectiveness of antivirals.
Role of Risk Perception In Flu Vaccine Behavior Among African-American and White Adults in the U.S. (3/17/17)
Genes Linked to Better Immune Response to Flu Vaccine Identified – Science Daily report on how genes might impact flu vaccine. (8/25/17)
Data
Center for Disease Control and Prevention Weekly Influenza Map
FluNearYou – A website and mobile app created through a partnership between HealthMap, the American Public Health Association and the Skoll Global Threats Fund that maps the reporting of flu cases in the U.S. and Canada.
Webcasts
Understanding the Flu: In July 2018, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was the keynote speaker at the National Press Club where he where he explained the origins of the flu, why the season flu vaccine doesn’t work as well as public health officials would like and efforts to create a more effective flu vaccine.
A Primer for the Media on the Flu: A September 2017 webinar explaining how the CDC monitors the flu, picks the annual vaccine and how reporters can use the flu data on its website.
Graphic animation video explaining how the flu virus enters the body, hijacks cells and gives you the flu. It also touches on how a vaccine prevents it.
History
History of Influenza and Development of Seasonal Vaccines
Flu Season: An interview with Jeffrey K Taubenberg: In this Q & A, the molecular biology publication EMBO Reports interviews Taubenberg, the scientist who mapped the gene of the 1918 flu virus, about the current state of flu vaccines.
The Great Influenza – by John Barry – This history of the deadline 1918 influenza pandemic includes a chapter explaining in layman’s terms how the flu virus works.
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It, by Gina Kolata. Kolata, a New York Times reporter, tells the compelling story about the key scientists who discovered the flu virus and the search for the deadly 1918 strain.
Organizations and experts
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials – The Arlington, Va., -based association represents state and local public health officials and is a good resource for connecting with community health officials.
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy: This University of Minnesota-based research group provides daily and breaking news on infectious diseases, including flu outbreaks.
Families Fighting Flu: A nonprofit group that represents patients who have been injured or killed by the flu.
Immunization Action Coalition – An organization backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that aims to boost the nation’s immunization rates.
National Foundation For Infectious Diseases – A Bethesda, Md.-based foundation created to educate the public on the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
Infectious Diseases Society of America – An Arlington, Va.-based medical association that represents physicians and scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases.
