OFFICIALS: No way to know how bad flu will be this year

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — Flu season is upon us. Experts recommend getting your flu shot in the month of October so the vaccine has time to take its full effect.

Doctors and health officials are watching this disease closely.

It’s still pretty early in peak flu season. There’s not enough information for officials to know just how bad it will be this year. However, a flu vaccine takes about two weeks to take affect. So get your shot now.

Early estimates show that 900,000 people were hospitalized because of the flu last year. The CDC calculates 80,000 deaths because of the disease — those numbers the worst the U.S. has seen in decades.

This year, health officials urge the pubic to take preventative measures, hoping to reduce the disease’s spread.

“We usually don’t have severe years back to back,” Dr. Charles Woods said. “Although, occasionally we can. So odds would be this year might not be as bad as last year, but there’s nothing to say for sure that would be the case.”

There’s no way of knowing when or what strain will hit hardest this year.

“Unfortunately, every year is different, and we don’t always, in fact we really never know exactly how the vaccine will match up to circulating strains,” said Connie Buecker of the Hamilton County Health Department. “The early indication is that it’s better than it has been in some years in the past.”

“Sometimes a peak as late as March come on, so it varies a bit year to year. On average it’s sometime between December and February to March as to when we see the most activity,” Dr. Woods said.

Health officials say washing your hands and avoiding sick people are two ways to prevent the flu. However, the best way is getting the flu shot.

“People need to take advantage of that and there are many adults who are very shot-averse, I guess,” Buecker said “Not necessarily vaccine-averse, but once they got out of childhood they thought they were done with shots. Well, they need to just get over it.”

The FDA also just approved a new antiviral flu drug called Xofluza. This one-time dose drug would help those 12 and up minimize flu symptoms. However, health officials say it might take a few years for the drug to increase in general circulation.