flu

The 2018 – 2019 flu season was unusually long-lasting, spanning November through mid-April, and brought two waves of the menacing type A virus, according to the latest update by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though classified as moderate, with fewer overall illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths than the previous season, the most recent flu season was notable not only for being the longest in 10 years, but for a late-season type A virus revisit, the agency reported.

The type A flu virus changes regularly and is the one most often responsible for large flu epidemics. Typically, a season kicks off in the fall with an outbreak of type A, and a weaker type B flu virus may predominate in a second wave. Not so this year, which saw a second strain of type A predominating from mid-February through mid-May.

While adults aged 65 years and older are more likely to get vaccinated than are younger adults, deaths attributed to flu have risen steadily since the 2015 – 2016 flu season, peaking at 80,000 in 2017 – 2018, according to the AARP.

The CDC notes that getting vaccinated remains the best way to prevent catching and spreading the flu.