Cases of the flu are surging in Maine, with outpatient and emergency room visits as well as hospitalizations all spiking as the new year kicks in.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now lists Maine as one of 30 states with “very high” flu activity in new data released Monday.
The state had low activity back in mid-December.
The rapid rise in Maine and across the country is largely being driven by a new variant of the flu virus known as “subclade K,” or Super K.
According to Scientific American, experts think the current flu vaccine may be less effective at preventing infection from the subclade K variant because the virus has mutated since the vaccine strains were selected.
New charts released by the Maine CDC on Tuesday show sharply spiking rates of flu outpatient and emergency room visits, as well as hospitalizations. The spike is far ahead of last year’s peak of influenza in the state in February.
The Hill reports that experts fear low vaccination rates in the U.S. could lead to a historically bad flu season, although there’s hope that more people will choose to get vaccinated.
