Epidemic means that it is a higher than usual number of cases. Some 8.5% of all deaths across the country reported for the week ending January 10 were due to pneumonia and influenza.
This is slightly higher than this time last year. It is not, however, unusual for the flu to have weeks in which it reaches epidemic levels and then ebbs downward during a regular flu season.
The CDC does not track adult deaths. It does keep track of the number of children who die after having the flu.
There were an additional 19 children who have died since the numbers for the United States were reported last week.
That brings the total for this flu season up to 45 pediatric deaths. By comparison this time last year, there had been 27 children who died after having the flu.
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“It requires insight and technology we didn’t have available to us five years ago,” says Palese.
Mount Sinai isn’t the only research facility working io this universal vaccine. The CDC is working in an interagency partnership coordinated by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a partnership that CDC spokesman Jason McDonald tells CNN has “yielded important successes.”
“Part of this effort is the eventual development of a universal vaccine that would offer better and broader and longer-lasting protection against seasonal influenza viruses as well as novel influenza viruses,” said the CDC spokesman.
Although this research is advanced, it is still years away from being available for use in humans.
