[emphasis is mine]
NOVEMBER 24, 2025
Is the U.S. in Store for Another Brutal Flu Season?
U.S. flu rates remain low, but experts are keeping an eye on a new strain that’s been linked to unexpectedly early and severe seasons in several other countries.
Influenza is picking up in the U.S., and public health experts are bracing for signs of another brutal season with the virus.
Last year
one of the worst waves of flu in recent decades took the U.S. by surprise. Japan and the U.K. are currently grappling with an unexpectedly early uptick in severe flu cases. A mutated strain known to cause severe disease may be behind some of the unusual activity.
These warning signals, combined with interruptions in U.S. surveillance data and declining vaccination rates, have scientists worried.
“Influenza is no joke,” says Shaun Truelove, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “Right now it’s time for everybody to get vaccinated.”
FLU TRENDS TO DATE
The
government shutdown interrupted national flu data reporting last month, leaving scientists in the dark. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told
Scientific American that data were collected during the shutdown, but publication of weekly flu reports and respiratory dashboard updates were paused between September 20 and November 8.
That’s a crucial period for tracking flu trends, Truelove says. Officials and scientists ramp up flu monitoring in October because “knowing what’s going on and how quickly rates are increasing will help us understand the impact on health care systems.” CDC’s spokesperson said that the agency will release data from that time gap to provide a complete picture of the season moving forward.
-snip-
Other countries show some warning signs. Australia reported
a record flu season,
with nearly 11 percent more cases than the previous year. Japan, meanwhile, declared an
early “flu epidemic” in October. Influenza cases are also increasing in
several European countries, and U.K. health officials announced that flu struck
a month earlier than usual.
-snip-
Health officials are also keeping watch for possible signs of international transmission in major U.S. ports, particularly as holiday travel picks up, Hopkins says. The reports from abroad are notable, he says, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the U.S. will follow the same pattern.
...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bad-will-flu-season-be-this-year/
