The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted on Friday that its latest data show that the hospitalization rate for influenza is the highest in over a decade for this time of the year.
The cumulative hospitalization rate is “higher than the rate observed in week 45 during every previous season since 2010-2011,” according to the CDC in its updated Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report on Nov. 18.
It comes amid the spread of other respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The overall cumulative hospitalization rate per 100,000 population was 8.1, according to the data from the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) system, one of the CDC’s sources for important data on hospitalization rates associated with flu.  The rate is higher than that observed in week 45 during previous seasons dating back to 2010-2011, which ranged from 0.1 to 0.9, the CDC stated….