The Latest Breaking News from Influenza

Bird flu ‘has potential to become pandemic’, UKHSA director says

Richard Pebody said while the virus is ‘not new’ and the risk to the public remains low, its features have changed in recent years.

Evening Standard · Mar 25, 2025

Heeding the lessons of COVID-19 in the face of avian influenza

Infectious disease outbreaks have a bad habit of piling on at the worst possible times.

The Conversation · Mar 24, 2025

Warning for farmers after first case of bird flu discovered in a sheep

The single case of avian influenza was found in a sheep on a farm in Yorkshire where the disease had been confirmed in poultry.

Evening Standard · Mar 24, 2025

5 years of COVID-19 underscore value of coordinated efforts to manage disease – while CDC, NIH and WHO face threats to their ability to respond to a crisis

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, began as a “cluster of severe pneumonia cases of unknown cause” reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It had spread to 118,000 cases reported in…

The Conversation · Mar 11, 2025

Brain damage reported in 13% of kids who have died of flu this season, CDC finds

A CDC report has revealed that nine of 68 of children who died of flu this year had brain damage, but it's unclear whether this influenza-associated encephalopathy is on the rise.

LiveScience · Mar 4, 2025

India sees sharp spike in Swine Flu infections: What is it and how to stay safe

The number of swine flu (H1N1) cases in India is rapidly increasing, with thousands of infections reported in different areas. Government statistics show that as of December 2024, the sickness had infected over 20,414 people and killed 347 of them. States like Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan…

The Times of India · Mar 3, 2025

Kids hospitalized by flu jumps by a staggering 145%: ‘This is a particularly severe season’

So far this year, 86 children have died from influenza

The Independent UK · Mar 1, 2025

This year's flu shot was up to 78% effective at preventing hospitalization in kids, early data finds

Early data suggest that the 2024-2025 flu shots have effectively lowered rates of flu hospitalization and outpatient visits in vaccinated people.

LiveScience · Feb 28, 2025

As flu cases break records this year, vaccine rates are declining, particularly for children and 65+ adults

In February 2025, flu rates spiked to the highest levels seen in at least 15 years, with flu outpacing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified this flu season as having “high” severity…

The Conversation · Feb 28, 2025

More people are currently dying from the flu in California than from Covid

Flu across the U.S. is at moderate to very high levels this year

The Independent UK · Feb 21, 2025