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MARSHFIELD, Wisconsin — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published a new study on influenza transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study, published January 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, evaluated household flu transmission during the two pre-pandemic flu seasons and the 2021-22 flu season. The study evaluated Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arizona, New York, and North Carolina.
If one householder catches the flu during the 2021-2022 flu season, the researchers found that the other 50% of households who were in contact with the infected individual will get 7 more than the first person to get sick. He said he had the flu within days. Before the pandemic, researchers said the same was true for just 20% of household contacts.
This means that during the second pandemic flu season, influenza spread through households more than twice as fast as before the pandemic.
Influenza spread in households at a higher rate in 2021-2022 than before the coronavirus pandemic.
“This study highlights the need for household measures to prevent influenza transmission and the importance of annual influenza vaccination to reduce the risk of influenza illness,” said Huong McLean. McLean is a research scientist who is one of the authors of this study. McLean was also a principal investigator in Wisconsin. Marshfield Clinic Research said an official at his institute provided the data and laboratory tests for the study.
Researchers say there are many factors that may have caused the increase in flu infections in households during the pandemic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of children receiving influenza vaccine has decreased. Researchers said this may have led to an “increased susceptibility of the population.”
In addition, the researchers said, “It is possible that the decline in influenza epidemics in the two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in decreased or decreased antibodies to influenza.”
Additionally, researchers say that the risk of domestic transmission may have increased as people spent more time at home during the pandemic.
For the full study, “Household transmission of influenza A virus in 2021-2022,” see here.
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