Post by the Scribe on Dec 29, 2023 0:18:21 GMT
What are Americans catching this winter? It's not just flu and COVID-19 anymore.
www.yahoo.com/news/americans-catching-winter-not-just-110334141.html
Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY
Updated Thu, December 28, 2023 at 9:55 AM MST·8 min read
1.5k
It’s that time of year, again, when everyone appears to be getting sick – your family, your friends, your co-workers. Even your dog. www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/12/04/what-is-dog-respiratory-illness-symptoms/71753397007/
In recent years, COVID-19 was the likely culprit behind your sniffles, cough and sore throat. But health experts say it’s more of a toss-up this season between the coronavirus, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and other cold viruses.
“You can take your pick this year,” said Dr. Steve Furr, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “It varies in times of the year and what part of the country.”
Health officials fear the rise in infections will lead to increased hospitalizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on Dec. 14 to medical caregivers saying that low vaccination rates against influenza, COVID-19 and RSV “could lead to more severe disease and increased health care capacity strain in the coming weeks.”
Experts say the best defense against developing severe disease is to get vaccinated. And if you haven't gotten a jab, yet, it's not too late.
COVID-19: When can you return to normal life
Health experts say the coronavirus continues to account for most hospitalizations caused by a respiratory virus.
Hospital admissions increased by more than 10% in the week ending Dec. 16 compared with the previous week and by more than 6% for emergency department visits, according to the CDC. Deaths have also increased by more than 3%.
A low vaccination rate may partly explain a rise in severe illness and hospitalizations. Only about 18% of Americans have gotten the updated bivalent shot that became available in September. At nursing homes, about a third of residents are up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
The CDC still recommends isolation and quarantine guidelines for those infected. People should be isolated from others if they test positive for the virus or if they experience symptoms without a positive test, the health agency says.
If you have no symptoms but tested positive:
◾ Stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in your house.
◾ Day 0 is the day you tested (not the day you received the positive result).
◾ Day 1 is the first full day following the day you tested.
◾ If you develop symptoms within 10 days of when you tested, the clock restarts at zero on the day you started feeling symptoms.
If you have symptoms but no positive test:
◾ Day 0 of isolation is the day of symptoms onset, regardless of when you tested positive.
◾ Day 1 is the first full day after your symptoms started.
You can end isolation once you test negative.
What are the symptoms of new COVID?
The latest COVID-19 variant gaining momentum in the country is JN.1.
First detected in September, it made up more than 44% of cases in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 23, according to CDC data.
The dominant variant is most present in the Northeast including New Jersey and New York, where it accounts for nearly 57% of cases. In the West, it accounts for about 41% and about 39% of cases in the mid-Atlantic.
So far, JN.1 doesn’t seem to cause any unusual COVID-19 symptoms outside of fever and chills, cough, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, difficulty breathing, brain fog, and loss of taste or smell.
It may spread easier or be better at evading our immune systems, health officials say, but there is no evidence that the strain causes more severe disease than other recent variants. Evidence indicates vaccines and antiviral medications work against it.
Influenza: How do you tell if I have the flu or COVID?
Half of the states in the U.S. – especially those in the South – have reported high or very high flu activity as of the week ending Dec. 16, according to the CDC.
Positive lab tests for influenza rose to 12% of all tests given, up from 10% in the previous week. Overall, labs have processed more than 949,800 tests since Oct. 1; more than 52,800 were positive for the flu.
Distinguishing between flu and COVID symptoms can be difficult. Both viruses tend to cause fevers, cough, muscle aches and fatigue. Luckily, providers test for both viruses at the hospital to determine the best course of antivirals.
The Food and Drug Administration also authorized in February the first over-the-counter at-home test that can detect and differentiate between flu and COVID-19. The Lucira COVID-19 and Flu Home Test is a single-use test that can be purchased without a prescription and displays results in 30 minutes or less for influenza A, influenza B and COVID-19.
Vaccination fatigue has led fewer Americans to get their flu vaccine compared with last year, Furr said. About 42% of U.S. adults had gotten flu shots by the first week of December, down from about 45% at the same time last year, according to the CDC.
Respiratory syncytial virus: What are the first signs of RSV?
RSV is a respiratory virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages, including the nose and throat. Health experts say it’s a common infection that most children experience by age 2 but can cause severe disease in babies and older adults.
The CDC says symptoms of RSV tend to appear within four to six days after infection and may include:
◾ Runny nose.
◾ Coughing.
◾ Sneezing.
◾ Fever.
◾ Wheezing.
Health experts say symptoms typically resolve independently within a week or two. More concerning symptoms of RSV that may require emergency medical care include shortness of breath, high fever, bluish tint to the skin and worsening cough, according to the American Lung Association.
In infants under 6 months, the only discernible symptoms may be increased irritability or lethargy, decreased appetite, or working harder to breathe. Infants are vulnerable to RSV-related complications because of their naive immune systems and small respiratory airways, health experts say.
As of Dec. 16, nearly 12% of RSV tests in the U.S. were positive, according to the CDC, up from 3.6% at the beginning of October. Truveta, a health care and data analytics company, reports the highest rate of hospitalizations occurring in babies 0 to 6 months – making up nearly 25% of admissions in November.
Until recently, there were no pharmaceutical interventions that could help prevent RSV infection. However, the FDA approved several shots that became available in September for older adults, people in late pregnancy and infants.
As of Dec. 9, only 17% of adults 60 and older had received the new shots against RSV and about 7% of eligible pregnant people, according to the CDC.
“People are overwhelmed by all the vaccines,” Furr said. “The uptake has not been as good as we would like.”
A shortage of RSV shots for infants forced the CDC to reel back guidelines in October to recommend conserving shots for young patients at higher risk for developing severe disease. The Biden administration met with the drug’s manufacturers to increase supply by an additional 230,000 doses in January, according to a White House release.
What else is out there? The common cold, strep throat
Viruses may cause a sore throat, but bacteria can cause strep throat.
Group A streptococcus infections can occur any time during the year, but they’re more common in the winter and spring. The illness typically occurs more in children than adults, especially those ages 5 to 15, because it tends to spread in schools and day care centers, according to the CDC.
The agency does not track noninvasive cases of strep throat, but Epic Research, which looks at electronic health records nationwide, reports doctor’s and emergency department visits for strep throat have been steadily rising since August.
Data is sparse, but Dr. Phil Huang, director of the Dallas County health department in Texas, says there has been more strep activity in schools.
"We certainly see it (during) the same times that we see increases in respiratory viruses," he said.
It takes two to five days for someone exposed to group A strep bacteria to become sick and develop symptoms, the CDC says, which can include fever, pain when swallowing, red and swollen tonsils, white patches or streaks of pus on the tonsils, red spots on the roof of the mouth and swollen lymph nodes. Unlike a respiratory virus, strep throat doesn’t usually cause a cough or runny nose.
A simple swab test of the throat at a doctor’s office can provide definitive results. If positive, providers will prescribe antibiotics that will decrease symptoms and length of illness, prevent the bacteria from spreading to others and avoid serious complications.
Health experts say common cold viruses are also in full swing this year. Cold symptoms last seven to 10 days and are most contagious in the first four to five days, health experts say. These viruses don’t typically result in hospitalizations, but some symptoms can last for weeks.
These symptoms mirror classic signs of respiratory illness, including runny or congested nose, cough, sore throat, mild headache and sneezing.
Unlike bacterial infections, such as strep throat, antibiotics don’t have any impact on respiratory viruses, which means the best thing to do is drink lots of fluids and rest as the virus takes its course.
Contributing: Mike Snider, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
Send tips to Adrianna Rodriguez: adrodriguez@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID, flu, RSV, cold, strep: What is everyone catching this winter?
The Desert Sun
Influenza, COVID-19, RSV are on the rise. What you need to know
www.yahoo.com/news/influenza-covid-19-rsv-rise-210643228.html
Ema Sasic, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Thu, December 28, 2023 at 2:06 PM MST·7 min read