After a steady increase since the beginning of the 2014-2015 flu season, rates of lab-confirmed virus fell for the first time during the week of March 6-12, according to CDC data.
However, cases of hospitalizations for patients with lab-confirmed flu continued on an upward trend, particularly for patients 65 and older. Outpatient visits for flu-like illness this season started off lower than the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons, but also appears to be steadily inclining.
Eight pediatric deaths related to influenza were reported during the week, five of which were associated with infections that occurred in the past two weeks.