2026-01-12
11 分钟For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Peer Lewis in for Rachel Hulman.
You're listening to our weekly science news roundup.
First up, if it feels like almost everyone you know either has the flu,
is getting over the flu, or has just gotten over the flu, you're not totally wrong.
In the US,
more than 8% of all visits to a healthcare provider in the week that ended December 27th were for respiratory illness according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That's the highest rate the agency has recorded since it began keeping track in 1997.
According to the CDC, so far this season,
the flu has contributed to an estimated 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths,
including nine children.
This surge comes even as the CDC has rolled back its flu vaccine guidance for children.
In early January,
the agency reversed its decades-long recommendation that everyone over the age of six months get vaccinated.
The agency now advised its parents to discuss influenza vaccination with their child's doctor.
Last year, shortly after Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
was sworn in as the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
the CDC canceled a promotion campaign encouraging flu vaccination that health officials had deemed effective.
They also removed the campaigns-related web pages.
Much of the uptick in cases and hospitalizations this flu season seem to be driven by a new variant of H3N2,