Influenza season is in full force
As you can see from the graphs, influenza has hit Southern California. We are still at high, endemic levels of RSV (well over 10%), however the numbers look like they are leveling off or even declining. For influenza we are seeing primarily influenza A but we have reports of influenza B from all reporting sites. Remember that the CDC is reporting >98% resistance to Oseltamivir for H1N1 influenza A isolates, so recommends either Zanamivir or combination Oseltamivir + Rimantidine for empiric treatment of influenza A. For now, it looks as though the vaccine is a good match for both H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A isolates (H3N2 retaining susceptibility to Oseltamivir) and that the influenza B isolates seems to be different from the vaccine strains, and so will be changed for next year's vaccine. The complete information can be accessed at the CDC influenza site: www.cdc.gov/flu