The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in their December 10, 2011, report on the spread of seasonal influenza in the United States show New York State with only sporadic cases of the annual illness. The NY Health Department is reporting visits to medical providers for flu-like symptoms at a rate of under one percent of all visits. This is much lower than last year's flu season at this time and under the baseline of 2.5 percent.
The Central New York region, from Watertown and Fort Drum south toSyracuse and Binghamton, is showing the highest level of visits to hospital emergency departments for flu-like symptoms. Five percent of all visits fall into that category. Western New York, including Buffalo and Rochester, show the lowest rate at 4.1 percent.
Laboratory testing at both the national and state levels reveals Type A strains predominate. Sub-typing at the national level shows that novel H1N1 influenza, the pandemic flu, is appearing infrequently at less than three percent of cases typed. The majority of typed influenza cases are from the A (H3N2) strain that is part of the 2011-2012 influenza vaccine.
The CDC is noting that several unrelated cases of a swine influenza have been found in humans. The illnesses are known in the swine population but are rare in humans. Swine / human contact is often the method of transmitting the illness but it may also have been spread by human to human contact in Iowa. Less than a dozen cases in total are related to these viruses.
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