Bracing for impact: the upcoming flu season

2019-2020 respiratory season

Is your facility prepared for this season’s testing volume?

If you felt like last year’s flu season dragged on and on—you’re not wrong. While it wasn’t as harsh as the 2017-2018 season, last year’s flu season was the longest in ten years at 21 weeks. So, what made this particular season different?

Let’s look at a typical season: Influenza A tends to lead off with Influenza B usually striking later. But, the only predictable thing about seasonal influenza is that it’s unpredictable. Last year, two different strains of Influenza A, H1N1 and H3N2, made up the bulk of the illnesses, while Influenza B showed less activity than usual. Here are some estimatesⁱ from the CDC on the flu’s impact last year:

37.4 million – 42.9 million flu illnesses
17.3 million – 20.1 million flu medical visits
531,000 – 647,000 flu hospitalizations
36,400 – 61,200 flu deaths

What impact will the upcoming flu season have?

A change in this season’s vaccine

In a rare occurrence, composition of this season’s vaccine was postponed in order to give experts more time to monitor circulating influenza viruses. According to WHO, Influenza A(H3N2) viruses change frequentlyⁱⁱ, which makes it challenging to generate candidate vaccine viruses.

To prepare for this season, the FDA and WHO have selected new Influenza A strains for both the trivalent and quadrivalent vaccinesⁱⁱⁱ:

Influenza A: A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus
Influenza A: A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
Influenza B: B/Colorado/06/2017-like (Victoria lineage) virus

The organization also recently launched a new global strategy^iv that aims to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and mitigate the impact of pandemic influenza through stronger surveillance and better tools to prevent, detect, control, and treat flu.

Why rapid testing is critical

Rapid detection has become more and more important in influencing clinical decisions and awareness, especially at the beginning of influenza season. As testing has moved beyond the walls of the lab to point of care, providers are now able to make more informed decisions with the patient in the room in order to improve infection control. In particular, CLIA-waived molecular testing has enabled a level of sensitivity that was previously unattainable at the point of care.

Rapid molecular assays are a fairly new type of diagnostic test that deliver high sensitivity and fast results. Molecular assays are useful in any setting but are particularly recommended by the CDC for long-term care and post-acute care settings, as these settings are highly conducive to the rapid spread of the virus and contain vulnerable populations.^v

Is your facility prepared for this season’s testing volume? Explore flu and other respiratory testing solutions from Cardinal Health.

ⁱ https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm
ⁱⁱ https://www.contagionlive.com/news/who-updates-20192020-influenza-vaccine-recommendations-for-northern-hemisphere ⁱⁱⁱ https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/flu-season-2019-2020.htm
^iv https://www.who.int/influenza/global_influenza_strategy_2019_2030/en/
^v https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/ltc-facility-guidance.htm