Tennessee Seasonal Influenza 2025-26

[Commonground]

6 Mid-South school districts close due to student illnesses
1/30/25

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Six Mid-South school districts and some private schools in the region have been shut down due to a huge uptick in sick students and staff.
Most schools will spend Friday cleaning and disinfecting classrooms before the hope to reopen on Monday.
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Chief of Pediatric Diseases for the hospital Dr. Sandy Arnold said they are always busy this time of year, but they are seeing lots of flu in the emergency room. She said they’re also seeing secondary complications of the flu in the hospital, such as bacterial infections, sinus complications, and even meningitis.
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In the meantime, many patients prescribed flu medications are having trouble finding them.

Many viewers have called into FOX13 saying they’ve called in a Tamiflu prescription to their pharmacy, but were told it wasn’t available or they had to wait several days to get it.

Stephen Hadley, a pharmacist and the owner of Kirby Whitten Pharmacy in Bartlett, said Tamiflu has to be given within 72 hours of symptoms starting to be effective. It works by attacking the flu virus to keep it from multiplying in your body and by reducing the symptoms of the flu.

Hadley said the liquid version, which children take, has been especially hard to find. "We arerunning out of liquids. We're ordering when we can find them from a wholesaler."
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Doctors say in the Mid-South, it’s not unusual to see cases of flu pop up until March or April.

... https://www.fox13memphis.com/health/...a7bef3354.html

[Commonground]

Spike in illnesses forces closures to several Mid-South schools
Jan 30, 2025

A staggering number of illnesses are affecting students, faculty and staff in several school districts across the Mid-South.

This includes Crockett County schools, McNairy County schools and a school in Fayette County.

These schools will be closed Thursday and Friday, Jan. 30 and 31.
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Fayette Academy spokesman told FOX13 on Monday about 50 students were out. Then the next day, that number spiked to 100.
Now, more than 150 students along with the high number of faculty and staff were not in school Wednesday.

...https://www.fox13memphis.com/educati...80f6f1173.html

[Commonground]

February 1, 2025
Where is flu surging in the US? Some hospitals are overwhelmed in states with high rates

Excerpt:

The sudden surge in flu cases, along with other respiratory viruses, is overwhelming some hospitals.

Tennessee is one of several states currently experiencing the highest levels of flu activity in the U.S.

"My hospital is jammed," says Schaffner, who is based in Nashville. "We have people on stretchers, on gurneys in the emergency room waiting to be admitted, and this is true across the country."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/flu-activity-high-most-us-084035718.html

[Mary Wilson]

2nd child flu death reported in TN

Published: Feb. 17, 2025 at 11:25 AM CST|Updated: 4 hours ago
By Caleb Wethington

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Tennessee Department of Health has reported a second pediatric flu-related death in the state in 2025. ...

https://www.wsmv.com/2025/02/17/2nd-child-flu-death-reported-tn/

[Commonground]

New H3N2 flu variant may signal rough winter in United States

November 24, 2025

A menacing new flu strain is spreading across the U.K., Canada and Japan, causing doctors in the U.S. to fear a rougher than expected season is headed our way.

Influenza strain H3N2, known as subclade K, has continued to spike in other countries, a possible predictor of what will eventually impact Americans. It has not yet been detected through testing in Middle Tennessee, said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University Medical Center's professor of infectious diseases, preventive medicine and health policy. Vanderbilt is one of about a dozen sites across the U.S. that works with a state lab to dive deeper and give specifics on the current variants to the CDC.

The current flu vaccines in the U.S. contain protection against three strains representing both main groups, influenza A, including last year's H3N2, and influenza B. While the vaccines may not prevent adults and children from getting H3N2 subclade K, the vaccines still can lessen the virus' duration and severity, Schaffner said
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This flu season, as with past seasons, the variant is impacting older adults, a vulnerable population with underlying illnesses that can lead to hospitalizations, the doctor said.

"One of the curiosities, early information from the U.K. is that this new strain is affecting children and younger adults more," Schaffner said. "That's a little unusual."
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"People who are immune-compromised and persons who are pregnant are the ones who are more likely to get severe disease," Schaffner said. "However, each year in the Vanderbilt emergency rooms, we see healthy children and healthy young adults grimly sick, gravely sick, coming in with influenza."
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The Tennessee Department of Health's website recommends everyone 6 months of age and older get a flu vaccine to "reduce flu illnesses, doctors' visits and missed work and school" and to prevent hospitalizations and death.

"Even though there's a drifted strain, vaccines still provide a substantial measure of protection against severe disease," Schaffner said.

For more flu vaccine information

The Tennessee Department of Health offers flu and vaccine information at www.tn.gov.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers extensive information about flu vaccine types and recommendations at www.cdc.gov.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2025/11/24/nashville-h3n2-flu-vanderbilt-variant-cold/87373905007/