Flu Statistics: What Are Your Odds of Getting the Flu?
How many people get the flu each year? How much does the flu cost us? How well does the flu vaccine work? Here's a rundown of some important flu statistics, based on the best available data. Some of these stats may surprise you.
- Percentage of the U.S. population that will get the flu, on average, each year: between 5% and 20%.
- Number of Americans hospitalized each year because of flu complications: 200,000 on average.
- The number of people who die each year from flu-related causes in the U.S.: varies with a range of 3,000-49,000 people yearly
- In the U.S., influenza and pneumonia were the eighth leading cause of death in 2007.
- Number of flu vaccine doses available in the U.S. for the 2010-2011 flu season: 160 million to 165 million.
- In 2010, the CDC began recommending that everyone over six months of age get a flu vaccine as soon as it’s available.
- Flu activity usually peaks in January and February.
- One of the national health objectives for 2010 included getting 90% of people over age 65 and all nursing home residents vaccinated.
- In 2008, the estimated vaccination levels for people over age 65 was: 70% for non-Hispanic whites, 52% for non-Hispanic blacks, and 52% for Hispanics.
- During 2009-2010, a new and very different flu virus (called H1N1, or swine flu) spread worldwide, causing the first flu pandemic -- global outbreak of disease caused by a new flu virus -- in more than 40 years.
- It is estimated that the 2009 H1N1 pandemic resulted in more than 12,000 flu-related deaths in the U.S. In contrast to seasonal flu, nearly 90% of the deaths occurred among people younger than 65.
- The 2010-2011 flu vaccine protects against three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus, and the H1N1 virus that caused the 2009 pandemic.
- It takes about two weeks after vaccination for an adult to develop antibodies against the flu.
- The typical incubation period for the flu is one to four days. Adults can be contagious from the day before symptoms begin through five to 10 days after the illness starts.
- A regular case of the flu typically resolves after three to seven days for the majority of people, although cough and fatigue can persist for more than two weeks.
- Two classes of antiviral drugs are approved by the FDA for use in treating or preventing the flu: neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir) and adamantanes (amantadine and rimantidine).
What Adults with HIV Infection Should Know About the Novel H1N1 Flu (formerly called swine flu)
This document has been updated in accordance with the CDC Recommendations for the Amount of Time Persons with Influenza-Like Illness Should be Away from Others. This document provides interim guidance and will be updated as needed. Are people with HIV/AIDS at greater risk than other people of infection with novel H1N1 flu? At the present time, we have no information about the risk of the novel H1N1 flu in people with HIV/AIDS. In the past, people with HIV/AIDS have not appeared to...
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