The influenza is a virus that comes back every year. Influenza season begins in October, ends in February and in some cases extends to May. Though it is not fatal, the flu can pave the way for more deadly viruses. Influenza is known to cause pneumonia, a deadly lung disease that begins with inflammation and causes the air sacs in the lungs to fill with fluid. Influenza causes a person to be more susceptible as their body is fighting a virus, making it easy for pneumonia to infect the body, which is happening this flu season.
The flu is a seasonal occurrence stemming from the Spanish flu in 1918 extending to 1920. Known as the Great Influenza Epidemic, it infected an estimated 500 million people, more than the population of South America and a death toll of 25-50 million. The flu is a recurring issue that can be guarded against with a trip to the doctors for a vaccine.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) claims that the reason the flu is so bad this year is because this year’s strand mutates more rapidly. It’s been identified as H3N2, an influenza strand that mutates at alarming rates in order to escape its host’s immune system. The vaccine given out this year is not highly effective against the subtype of flu spreading around.
There are two types of influenza, A and B. Strand A is notorious for infecting humans and mutates at a faster rate. On the other hand, influenza B exclusively infects humans but is much slower acting and doesn’t usually lead to epidemics.
Influenza type A is the virus spreading across the United States right now in the form of subtype H3N2. Last week, the CDC reported a 24.5% trend of positive clinical cases and a 5.8% trend of patients having respiratory illness. Compared to week 5 of the reported flu cases, the trend rate is beginning to go down, though the percentage of reported cases is higher. According to a chart provided by the CDC the flu is more common among age groups ranging from 5-24. From children to young adults, their immune systems are susceptible to viruses because it has not fully matured.
Over the course of the season hospitals saw a sizable number of patients exhibiting flu-like symptoms with over 400,000 hospitalizations and 37 million people contracting the flu. The CDC put an estimated death toll of 21,000 to 100,000 American citizens as of February 28. Last week, 98 pediatric cases passed because of the influenza virus and a total of 13,000 deaths, making the 2025 flu season the worst it’s been for a while. Some experts claim the severity to be the worst season in 15 years.
The strand circulating right now is the culprit for the severity of flu cases and surpassed the 2017-2018 flu in related hospitalizations, since the strands forming mutate and spread more quickly they clear the way for serious diseases.
Influenza this year has posed a significant threat to life, especially with the rapid mutation of the H3N2 virus. Though vaccines are available, they seemingly have not provided guaranteed protection against the current strand. The 2025 flu season is recorded to be one of the worse ones in recent years in causing pneumonia. Though the flu season is coming to a close, cases are still being reported. However, the severity of the season is showing a downward trend.
