CDC: Flu season will be ‘severe’

This year’s flu season is “shaping up to be a severe one,” with the potential to cause more hospitalizations and more deaths, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday.

This year’s strain of flu virus is particularly “nasty,” CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a briefing.

{mosads}He added that it was “too soon” to say whether the flu season had reached its peak.

Federal health officials first warned last month that this year’s flu strain – H3N2 – does not match this year’s vaccine, the result of mutations.

Still, Frieden said Friday that people in the U.S. should still get the shot because it “may still offer some protection,” particularly among adults over the age of 65.

With a less effective vaccine, Frieden said it was “even more important” for people to obtain anti-viral flu medications.

“They work, but they aren’t being used nearly enough,” Frieden said, adding that the drugs “can even save your life.”

A total of 26 children have died from the flu this year, he said.