By
The Associated Press
.
Published: Fri, February 15, 2008 - 5:31 pm
ATLANTA (AP) - The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. healthofficials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect
against most of the spreading flu bugs.
Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
say today that the flu shot is a good match for only about 40
percent of this year's flu viruses.
That's worse than last week's report when the CDC said the
vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating
strains.
In good years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent.
This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from
31 last week.
The number of children who have died from the flu has risen to
10 since the flu season's official September 30th start.
Dr. Joe Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology, says
infections from an unexpected strain have been booming, and now are
the main agent behind most of the nation's lab-confirmed flu cases.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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