Current:Home > reviewsFlu is expected to flare up in U.S. this winter, raising fears of a 'twindemic' -ProfitLogic
Flu is expected to flare up in U.S. this winter, raising fears of a 'twindemic'
View
Date:2025-04-18 05:11:30
The flu virtually disappeared for two years as the pandemic raged. But influenza appears poised to stage a comeback this year in the U.S., threatening to cause a long-feared "twindemic."
While the flu and the coronavirus are both notoriously unpredictable, there's a good chance COVID cases will surge again this winter, and troubling signs that the flu could return too.
"This could very well be the year in which we see a twindemic," says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University. "That is, we have a surge in COVID and simultaneously an increase in influenza. We could have them both affecting our population at the same time."
The strongest indication that the flu could hit the U.S. this winter is what happened during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. Flu returned to some countries, such as Australia, where the respiratory infection started ramping up months earlier than normal, and caused one of the worst flu seasons in recent years.
What happens in the Southern Hemisphere's winter often foreshadows what's going to happen north of the equator.
"If we have a serious influenza season, and if the omicron variants continue to cause principally mild disease, this coming winter could be a much worse flu season than COVID," Schaffner warns.
And the combination of the two viruses could seriously strain the health system, he says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that flu causes between 140,00 and 710,000 hospitalizations annually.
"We should be worried," says Dr. Richard Webby, an infectious disease specialist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "I don't necessarily think it's run-for-the-hills worried. But we need to be worried."
The main reason the flu basically disappeared the last two years was the behavior changes people made to avoid COVID, such as staying home, avoiding public gatherings, wearing masks, and not traveling. That prevented flu viruses from spreading too. But those measures have mostly been abandoned.
"As the community mitigation measures start to roll off around the world and people return to their normal activities, flu has started to circulate around the world," says Dr. Alicia Fry, who leads influenza epidemiology and prevention for the CDC. "We can expect a flu season this year — for sure."
Young kids at especially high risk
The CDC is reporting that the flu is already starting to spread in parts of the south, such as Texas. And experts caution very young kids may be especially at risk this year.
Though COVID-19 generally has been mild for young people, the flu typically poses the biggest threat to both the elderly and children. The main strain of flu that's currently circulating, H3N2, tends to hit the elderly hard. But health experts are also worried about young children who have not been exposed to flu for two years.
"You have the 1-year-olds, the 2-year-olds, and the 3-year-olds who will all be seeing it for the first time, and none of them have any preexisting immunity to influenza," says Dr. Helen Chu, assistant professor of medicine and allergy and infectious diseases and an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington.
In fact, the flu does appear to have hit younger people especially hard in Australia.
"We know that schools are really the places where influenza spreads. They're really considered the drivers of transmission," Chu says. "They'll be the spreaders. They will then take it home to the parents. The parents will then take it to the workplace. They'll take it to the grandparents who are in assisted living, nursing home. And then those populations will then get quite sick with the flu."
"I think we're heading into a bad flu season," Chu says.
'Viral interference' could offset the risks
Some experts doubt COVID and flu will hit the country simultaneously because of a phenomenon known as "viral interference," which occurs when infection with one virus reduces the risk of catching another. That's an additional possible reason why flu disappeared the last two years.
"These two viruses may still both occur during the same season, but my gut feeling is they're going to happen sequentially rather than both at the same time," Webby says. "So I'm less concerned about the twindemic."
Nevertheless, Webby and others are urging people to make sure everyone in the family gets a flu shot as soon as possible, especially if the flu season arrives early in the U.S. too. (Most years officials don't start pushing people to get their flu shots until October.)
So far it looks like this year's flu vaccines are a good match with the circulating strains and so should provide effective protection.
But health officials fear fewer people will get flu shots this year than usual because of anti-vaccine sentiment that increased in reaction to COVID vaccinations. Flu vaccine rates are already lagging.
"We are worried that people will not get vaccinated. And influenza vaccine is the best prevention tool that we have," the CDC's Fry says.
Fry also hopes that some of the habits people developed to fight COVID will continue and help blunt the impact of the flu.
"The wild card here is we don't know how many mitigation practices people will use," Fry says. "For example, people now stay home when they're sick instead of going to work. They keep their kids out of school. Schools are strict about not letting kids come to school if their sick. All of these types of things could reduce transmission."
veryGood! (2)
Related
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- CEO of a prominent tech conference resigns amid backlash for public statements over Israel-Hamas war
- Fear grows of Israel-Hamas war spreading as Gaza strikes continue, Iran's allies appear to test the water
- Violence forced them to flee. Now faith sustains these migrants on their journey to the US
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Norway’s 86-year-old king tests positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms
- North Dakota governor asks Legislature to reconsider his $91M income tax cut plan
- Former Albanian prime minister says he’s charged with corruption and money laundering in land deal
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- French pilot dies after 1,000-foot fall from Mount Whitney during LA stopover
Ranking
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Cesar Pina, a frequent on Dj Envy's 'The Breakfast Club', arrested for real estate Ponzi-scheme
- Violence forced them to flee. Now faith sustains these migrants on their journey to the US
- American basketball player attacked in Poland, left with injured eye socket
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Vanna White Shares Rare Photo With Boyfriend John Donaldson
- De Colombia p'al mundo: How Feid became Medellín's reggaeton 'ambassador'
- Biden to host first-of-its-kind Americas summit to address immigration struggles
Recommendation
Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
James Patterson talks writing stories and fighting Norman Mailer
'Love Island Games' cast: See Season 1 contestants returning from USA, UK episodes
Police dog’s attack on Black trucker in Ohio echoes history
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
CEO of a prominent tech conference resigns amid backlash for public statements over Israel-Hamas war
Michigan football suspends analyst Connor Stalions amid NCAA investigation of Wolverines
The FDA is proposing a ban on hair relaxers with formaldehyde due to cancer concerns