Virus season roars back with "quad-demic" of illness
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The spread of influenza A, COVID and RSV is "high" or "very high" across much of the U.S. at the same time norovirus cases are well above normal levels, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and wastewater surveillance data shows.
Why it matters: The result is a "quad-demic" of illness hitting simultaneously in what's shaping up to be a more active virus season than last year.
The big picture: The simultaneous threats are straining some hospitals to capacity and leading administrators to recommend masking among staff, ABC News reports.
- The surge follows what was a slow start to the respiratory virus season.
- "Predictions for this respiratory virus season were that we would see peak January 1 and that it would likely mirror previous respiratory virus seasons. We're obviously seeing it peak a little bit later," Saskia Popescu, a member of APIC's Emerging Infectious Diseases Task Force, told Axios.
The details: Flu activity is high or very high across 33 states and Washington, D.C., according to the CDC tracking of outpatient visits to health care providers for influenza-like illness.
- Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas had the highest levels as of the week of Jan. 18, according to the Walgreens Flu Index, compiled using retail prescription data for antiviral medications used to treat the flu across Walgreens locations.
- The CDC data shows flu-like illness is "very high" in New York City while the Walgreens index identifies Oklahoma City; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Montgomery-Selma, Alabama, among the areas with the most activity.
What we're watching: Human metapneumovirus, or HMPV — which comes with symptoms of a cough, fever, nasal congestion and shortness of breath — made headlines in China and has also been spreading in the U.S.
- Activity in the U.S. remains low compared with other viruses, per CDC data, and experts have said it shouldn't be cause for panic. "It is a seasonal bug that we know how to manage," said Popescu, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
- For HMPV, as well as these other viruses that are circulating, the tried-and-true advice is particularly worth heeding right now, she said.
- "All of those mitigation efforts that you can do — washing your hands, covering your cough, cleaning, disinfection, being mindful of ventilation in shared spaces — that's all going to help," she said.
