Two new reports this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide more detail on the deadliest flu season for US children in more than a decade. [CIDRAP -Center for Infectious  Disease Research & Policy Research and Innovation Office, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN,] 

The reports, published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), include data on the 280 US children who died during the 2024-25 flu season, along with information on 109 children who died from a rare and severe neurologic complication of flu during the season. The 280 pediatric flu deaths are the highest number reported in the United States since the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic and the highest for a non-pandemic flu season since child deaths became nationally notifiable in 2004.

The reports add further information on what the CDC has previously described as a high-severity flu season.

Highest mortality rate seen in infants

In first report, researchers with the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases analyzed data from the Influenza-Associated Pediatric Mortality Surveillance System, which collects reports on pediatric flu deaths from state and local health departments.

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