Early treatment may help patients avoid hospitalization and could be life saving, he added.
Many patients are unaware that effective prescription treatments exist, and many doctors are not using the treatments as recommended. In one study, fewer than one in five eligible high-risk patients received treatment.
“So we’re expanding our efforts to reach clinicians about reminders about the importance of these drugs,” he said, noting that if high-risk patients with underlying conditions such as asthma, sickle cell disease, renal disease, or diabetes were treated, “tens of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands of deaths could potentially be prevented.”
Dr. Frieden suggested that clinicians consider phone triage lines for high-risk patients to discuss symptoms over the phone and to “facilitate early initiation of treatment.”
An antiviral prescription can be provided without testing and before an office visit, he added.
The typical flu season lasts about 13 weeks on average, and the season began about 7 weeks ago. The continued high rate of H3N2 disease has had the greatest impact on older adults; that is typical of such seasons, which often involve a higher rate of hospitalizations and deaths.
In fact, hospitalization rates in the over 65 age group are rising sharply, Dr. Frieden said.
Last week the rate was 52 per 100,000 population, and this week the rate was 92 per 100,000 population. The cumulative rate 2 years ago when H3N2 viruses last predominated was 183 per 100,000, he noted.
“We wouldn’t be surprised to see something very similar this year,” he said.
Young children are also severely affected; thus far in the season there have been 26 reported pediatric flu-related deaths.
However, there are early signs that infection rates are declining in areas where the season started earlier, such as the Southeast, and the number of patients presenting to a doctor with flulike symptoms has also declined slightly, but it is too soon to tell whether disease activity has peaked, he said, stressing that “we still have several weeks of flu activity ahead.”
It’s not too late to get vaccinated, and despite the reduced efficacy of this year’s vaccine against the circulating H3N2 strains, vaccination may still offer some benefit.
“There are other strains out there as well,” he said, noting that a proportion of cases from other strains, such as influenza B, tend to occur late in the season, and this year’s vaccine offers a good match for influenza B viruses.
Pneumococcal vaccination is also important, particularly for older adults and those at high risk , he said.
Last September the CDC announced a new recommendation that all adults over age 65 years should get two different pneumococcal vaccines. Such vaccination may help prevent flu-related pneumonia.
Patients with the flu or flulike illness should be advised to cover their cough and to stay home from work or school to protect those who are most vulnerable to the flu, he said.