December 31, 2014 10:52 AM 
 
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 (CBS) — This season’s flu outbreak has reached the epidemic level, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports it’s expected to get even worse in the coming weeks. 
 
 Fifteen children nationwide have died of influenza since the 2014-15 flu season began this fall. The number of people being hospitalized for the flu is also on the rise, with those age 65 and older especially at risk. 
 
 The CDC says 22 states are seeing high levels of illness — including Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin — up from 13 states a week earlier. 
 
 And the flu’s geographic reach is increasing too, with widespread cases reported in 36 states. 
 
 Dr. Scott Dresden of Northwestern University says the hospital started seeing flu case in mid to late November. 
 
 “The numbers have reached epidemic proportions, which isn’t surprising for this time of year, it’s just a little bit earlier than we usually see it,” Dr. Dresden said. 
 
 Last year: flu cases starting popping up in January, this year, almost a month and half earlier. 
 
 “It may be that we have an early spike and it fizzles out earlier or it may just be a longer, tougher flu season,” Dr. Dresden said. 
 
 Health officials are encouraging people to get a flu shot even though this year’s vaccine formula does not offer as much protection as usual. A prevalent strain of the virus this year, H3N2, mutated enough that it’s no longer a close match for the vaccine developed to block it. 
 
 CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook said that because of this mismatch, the current flu vaccine will probably be about a third less effective than normal. 
 
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 / Updated By Maggie Fox 
 
 Flu activity increased “sharply” across the U.S. last week, and the virus is still widespread in all states except Hawaii, federal health officials said Friday. 
 
 At least four different strains of influenza are making people sick, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Flu vaccines are designed to protect against three or four of the strains but work poorly against the most common strain circulating, called H3N2. 
 
 Another 10 children were reported to have died from flu, the CDC said, although not all the deaths occurred last week. It can take weeks for states to gather the information and send it to CDC. So far this flu season, 30 children have died from influenza. 
 
 Last season, 110 children died from flu in the U.S. 
 
 Every year, influenza kills between 12,000 and 49,000 people and can send as many as 700,000 people to the hospital, the CDC says. It affects so many people that adult cases and deaths can only be estimated. 
 
 Related: Flu season's coming early, looking tough 
 
 The CDC says this is the worst flu season since the 2014-2015 season. Flu can vary a lot from year to year, and this year it’s spreading actively in all the states at the same time. In other years, it has usually moved in irregular waves, peaking in different parts of the country at different times. 
 
 “We’re seeing flu throughout the entire country,” said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and president-elect of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). 
 
 “By every measure – whether it’s by outpatient visits, hospitalizations, laboratory testing - this has been a very early season and a more severe one than recent influenza seasons,” agreed Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health. 
 
 Related: How about a better flu vaccine? 
 
 Some hospitals are overwhelmed, said Dr. Larry Wolk, Colorado’s chief medical officer. 
 
 “We’ve had well over 2,000 influenza-associated hospitalizations. That’s double our average number of cases we usually see this time of year,” Wolk told reporters in a briefing organized by ASTHO. 
 
 Worried flu patients are flooding emergency rooms and Alexander-Scott said her state health department was trying to steer those who are not suffering emergencies away from emergency departments. Only the urgently sick or injured should be in the ER, she said – others should be calling their own primary care doctors or visiting urgent care clinics. 
 
 Related: Flu might be airborne 
 
 It’s still not too late to get a flu shot, all the officials said. Pharmacies and drug stores reported they still had plenty of supplies, and the CDC predicts flu season will last several more weeks at the least. 
 
 “It may be several months before this flu season ends,” Wolk said. ||||| Joe Raedle / Getty Images file Russell Waddley of Miami received a flu shot in early December from Alina Pastoriza Garcia at a CVS pharmacy's MinuteClinic. Government health officials say new data show that the flu vaccine is about 62 percent effective at preventing illness this year. 
 
 Flu activity remains high across the United States, but there are signs this year's bad season may be waning in some areas, government health officials said Friday. 
 
 Forty-seven states reported widespread flu activity as of the week ending Jan. 5, up from 41 the previous week. Twenty-four states and New York City reported high levels of flu-like illness, but that was down from 29 states and NYC the week before, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 Still, flu is unpredictable and illness could rebound or worsen, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. 
 
 "Really, only the next week or two will show whether we have, in fact, crossed the peak," Frieden told reporters in a conference call. "Nationally, it's likely that influenza will continue for several more weeks." 
 
 Flu activity was elevated all across the U.S., except in the far west region that includes Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii and Nevada, the new report showed. 
 
 More than 3,700 people have been hospitalized for the flu since October, and 20 children have died, the CDC says. Most of the hospitalizations have been in people older than 65. For the first time this season, deaths associated with the flu rose into the epidemic category, though just barely, CDC officials said. 
 
 Vaccines given to fight this year's flu appear to be about 62 percent effective overall , according to data from some 1,155 children and adults with acute respiratory infections. Of people who got the flu, 32 percent were vaccinated. CDC officials characterize that level as "moderate" effectiveness and infection control experts say it's about what they expect from the shots. 
 
 "That's normal," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "It's a good but not a perfect vaccine." 
 
 This year's vaccines appear to be about 55 percent effective against influenza A strains, which are responsible for most illness and more severe cases, and about 70 percent effective against influenza B, which is usually less serious, the report showed. 
 
 That helps explain why some people who've received flu shots -- which are recommended for everyone older than six months -- say they've still gotten sick. It argues in favor of using antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to help bolster vaccine effectiveness, or VE, CDC's report said. 
 
 "These early VE estimates underscore that some vaccinated persons will become infected with influenza; therefore, antiviral medications should be used as recommended for treatment in patients, regardless of vaccination status," the report concluded. 
 
 Related stories: ||||| January 8, 2013 5:27 AM 
 
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 UPDATED: 1/8/2012 – 5:27 p.m. 
 
 CHICAGO (CBS) — Some Chicago area hospitals on Tuesday were being forced to turn away emergency room patients because of an influx of people suffering from the flu. 
 
 play pause Flu Hitting Hospitals Hard 
 
 WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya 
 
 
 
 
 
 In the city, University of Chicago, Northwestern and Swedish Covenant were among eight Chicago area hospitals that directed ambulances elsewhere at some point on Monday or Tuesday, because they were treating so many patients with the flu. 
 
 Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn lifted its ambulance bypass order at 9 p.m. on Monday. 
 
 As of about 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Chicago Fire Department said six hospitals were “on bypass” because of the flu. 
 
 “Emergency departments are getting overrun with people with respiratory illness,” said Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We are seeing an increase in influenza cases.” 
 
 Hospitals on “bypass” temporarily divert ambulances to other hospitals because of a high volume of patients. 
 
 The University of Chicago Medical Center emergency room has seen 166 flu cases this season, compared to just 43 last year. 
 
 Dr. Allison Bartlett said, even though flu season has already started, people should still get a flu shot. 
 
 “It takes about two weeks between when you get the flu shot and when you’re protected against the flu,” she said. 
 
 Hospitals haven’t been the only places seeing a lot more patients because of the flu. Many clinics at Walgreens and CVS pharmacies have been flooded with patients with flu-like symptoms. 
 
 Waddie Grant started suffering flu-like symptoms Tuesday morning. First, he tried to get in to see his doctor, but couldn’t get in right away, so he decided to go to a Walgreens Take Care Clinic in the Loop. 
 
 “I started feeling this little lump in my throat, and then some kind of a slight temperature,” he said. “I don’t want to get sick.” 
 
 Walgreens pharmacy manager Nancy Salman said, “The Take Care Clinic has been extremely busy. It’s been inundated with appointments, and walk-ins. They’ve seen anywhere from 20 to 25 patients a day.” 
 
 The flu season in Chicago started much earlier than normal and is expected to be one of the worst in several years, medical experts have said. 
 
 Illinois Public Health Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck told WBBM Newsradio that last year at this time, there had only been two people with flu-like symptoms admitted to the intensive care units of hospitals in Illinois, with no deaths. 
 
 So far this season, he says, 147 people have been admitted to hospital intensive care units due to the flu, and six of those people have died. 
 
 Patients in need of critical care–such as those suffering from a stroke–would still be admitted to hospitals on bypass, Arnold told the Sun-Times. 
 
 The flu is hitting earlier and harder this year not only in Chicago but across the country, WBBM Newsradio’s Lisa Fielding reports. 
 
 “We aren’t seeing very sick people. We’re just seeing more sick people,” said Mary Alice Lavin, Director of infection, prevention and control with Rush University Medical Center. 
 
 Lavin says even though they encourage the flu vaccine, it doesn’t always guarantee immunity. 
 
 “The viruses that were included in the vaccine this year are the ones that are circulating this year but studies have shown that the vaccine is only effective in 60 percent of people.” 
 
 play pause Will Vaccine Work? 
 
 WBBM Newsradio's Lisa Fielding 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lavin says those who’ve gotten the vaccine don’t get as sick as those who haven’t. 
 
 The flu shot also takes about two weeks to be effective. Rush has seen 203 cases of the flu since Nov. 5, much higher than years past. Flu season usually lasts through March. 
 
 Dr. Julie Morita of the Chicago Department of Public Health says city residents can call 311 to find out where to get a free flu shot. 
 
 Doctors also advise patients who have had the flu for two days to avoid coming to the emergency room. Instead, stay home and treat yourself with plenty of fluids, rest and proper hygiene. Flu medications are only effective if taken during the initial stages of symptoms. 
 
 Dr. David Zich, internal medicine and emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, says that if you get flu symptoms, you’re still considered contagious until 24 hours after your fever is gone. 
 
 At Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Dr. Brian Sayger, vice-chairman of Emergency Medicine, suggests that, if you start coming down with flu-like symptoms such as a high fever, achy body, chills and shakes, within 48 hours, you should ask your doctor to prescribe an antiviral flu drug like Tamiflu. 
 
 Antivirals, he says, tend to work best at reducing the severity of symptoms–not ending the flu–if taken in that two-day window. ||||| The flu is racing across nearly 30 U.S. states and it's leaving a deadly trail 
 
 Melissa Roberts, left, administers a flu vaccine to Kelly Ternes at the Okaloosa County Health Department in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Dec. 20, 2012. (Photo: Nick Tomecek, AP) Story Highlights Eighteen children have died, over 2,200 people hospitalized so far 
 
 Flu is widespread throughout the U.S. 
 
 Nearly 30 states have flulike activity 
 
 Chances are that you or someone you know has been chained to the bed recently with fever, fatigue, sore throat and muscle aches. 
 
 That's because the current flu season is turning out to be a bad one, affecting more people than usual, starting earlier and covering a broader geographical area. Government health experts say 18 children, under age 18, have died because of the seasonal flu and 2,257 people had been hospitalized with flu symptoms through the end of 2012. 
 
 "The sense that everybody has is that there's been an extremely rapid increase in influenza," says Trish Perl,co-leader of a flu study encompassing about 100 clinics in several cities. She is also an epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore. "It has been relatively widespread across the United States." 
 
 The public should be concerned, says Gregory Poland, professor of medicine and infectious disease at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. 
 
 "A decade ago, when we had widespread circulation (of the seasonal flu), we had 70,000 deaths in the U.S.," says Poland, who directs Mayo's Vaccine Research Group. 
 
 "We have this cultural thing in the U.S. about, 'Oh, it's just the flu.' I was telling a group yesterday, imagine in October I said, 'We expect a virus to be circulating in the U.S. and it will kill 30- or 40,000 Americans.' Can you imagine the panic that would ensue?" 
 
 For the fourth week in a row, the proportion of people seeing health care providers for flulike illness is above the national baseline, and jumped from 2.8% to 5.6% in that time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Last season's proportion peaked at 2.2%, the CDC reports. 
 
 Twenty-nine states plus New York City are now reporting high flulike activity, up from 16 states the week before, the CDC says. Forty-one states reported in the last week of December that flulike activity was widespread geographically, with that number up from 31 states the week before, according to the CDC. 
 
 During the last week of 2012, 7% of all deaths reported in 122 U.S. cities were due to pneumonia and the flu, according to the CDC. That figure is just below the epidemic threshold of 7.1% for the last week of the year. 
 
 The medical industry is concerned because this is the earliest flu season the U.S. has seen in the past 10 to 12 years, says Michael Jhung, an epidemiologist and influenza expert at the CDC. 
 
 Flu season usually peaks in January and February, according to the Flu.gov website maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. 
 
 The predominant type of flu that is circulating is H3N2 Influenza A virus, which is making up 76% of the viruses reported, according to the CDC. 
 
 The outbreak has strongly affected the East and the South and is spreading westward, Poland says. 
 
 Perl reports from her studies that initially health professionals were seeing a lot of Influenza B, but now they are seeing mostly A as well as other respiratory illnesses, including respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. 
 
 H3N2 flu seasons tend to be more severe, Poland of the Mayo Clinic says. 
 
 On the ground, the outbreak has sent more people to doctors and hospitals with flu symptoms. 
 
 For instance, in Minnesota, 600 people were hospitalized because of the flu and four people died, Poland says. Among those who died was an otherwise healthy 17-year-old boy who was visiting the Twin Cities area from Texas, according to Poland. 
 
 The professor said he's hearing similar stories from colleagues around the country of people who are generally healthy being hit hard. 
 
 In Indiana, seven deaths have been associated with influenza, two in people younger than 18. 
 
 "It's not too late to get vaccinated, and the CDC encourages everyone who hasn't been to do so soon," Jhung says. 
 
 Enough vaccine has been produced and distributed so that everyone who wants a shot should be able to get one. He urges, though, that if people run into delays because of a run on vaccine, not to be discouraged. 
 
 "People … may have to go to more than one pharmacy," Jhung says. 
 
 Perl says the outbreak also is a good opportunity for the public to remember that hand-washing and use of sanitizing gels can reduce infection rates by 30%. 
 
 "It's an opportunity for us to reinforce those basic things your mom always told you," she says. 
 
 While health experts advise people to get the flu vaccine and use hand sanitizer, some research shows children who attend daycare or tend to be exposed to more allergens may build up stronger defenses. VPC 
 
 Contributing: Tim Evans, The Indianapolis Star 
 
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– As predicted, this year's flu season is already a doozy: It features a more severe strain, it started earlier, it's hitting more people, and it has affected a wider swath of the country than usual, USA Today reports. Flu season started earlier this year than it has in the past 10 to 12 years, and by the end of 2012, 18 children had died and 2,257 had been hospitalized as a result. And things could get much worse: One Mayo Clinic expert recalls that "a decade ago, when we had widespread circulation [of seasonal flu], we had 70,000 deaths in the US." The proportion of people with flulike symptoms and the states reporting such illnesses are both on the rise, and a flurry of local stories today illustrate the problems in various states: There's quite an abundance, but here's a sampling: Flu cases spiked in New Jersey last month, the Star-Ledger reports; the state has seen about twice the number of flu-related ER visits as it did last year. In Chicago, some ERs are actually turning away patients because they're so overwhelmed with flu cases, CBS Chicago reports. In Cleveland, medical centers are limiting visitors in an effort to control the spread, Fox 8 reports. And in Florida, even people who got a flu shot still got sick, ABC News reports. NPR explains that this is a common problem, since the vaccine is only 60% effective—plus it takes about two weeks to kick in, and doesn't necessarily cover all strains of the virus.