Flu activity at ‘high’ level in South Carolina

South Carolina officially became the first state to reach a “high” level of influenza activity during the 2015-2016 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Dec. 11.

Activity of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the state was at level 9 on a scale of 1-10 for the week ending Dec. 5, 2015. For the country as a whole, however, activity was down a bit, with 13 states at level 2 or higher, compared with 20 states the week before. Among those with reduced ILI activity was Oklahoma, which went from level 6 for the week ending Nov. 28 to level 3 for the week ending Dec. 5, according to the CDC report.

For the week, 1.8% of patient visits reported to the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network were for ILI, which is below the national baseline of 2.1%. This measure peaked at almost 6% during last year’s flu season, with that high coming at the end of Dec. 2014. The pattern was similar for the 2013-2014 season, with a peak of about 4.5% during the same week at the end of December, the report showed.

There was one influenza-related pediatric death for the week ending Dec. 5, bringing the total to three that have been reported for the season, the CDC said.

rfranki@frontlinemedcom.com