Also: It's been five years since covid-19 was declared a public health emergency by the United States, yet it continues to take thousands of lives. Separately, H5N1 avian flu, the Uganda Ebola outbreak, gluten-free ultra-processed foods, and more are in the news. [KFF health News & CIDRAP]
CIDRAP: US Flu Activity Climbs, With More Deaths In Kids The nation's flu activity continued a steady rise last week, with 44 states at the high or very high level and that national test positivity just shy of 30%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update. Outpatient visits for flulike illness have been above the national baseline for 9 weeks in a row. Of samples that tested positive for flu at public health labs, nearly all were influenza A, and subtyped influenza A samples were about evenly split between the H3N2 and 2009 H1N1 strains. (Schnirring, 1/31).
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