Name: Flu killed nearly 10,000 Texans in 2017-2018
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Flu killed nearly 10,000 Texans in 2017-2018

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In what was considered the worst season in years, the flu and related complications killed nearly 10,000 Texans in 2017-2018, according to state health officials.The 9,470 deaths represent a spike of nearly 27 percent from the 7,459 deaths in the 2016-2017 season, and an increase of nearly 82 percent over the 5,215 deaths in 2015-2016, the only previous years when overall deaths were tracked.The latest figures are likely not all-time highs, considering many past seasons were marked by similarly high hospitalization rates and more pediatric deaths.“These death totals are a reminder of the toll this epidemic takes every year,” said Chris Van Deusen, director of media relations for the Texas Department of State Health Services. “It’s easy to let your guard down and see the flu as something that inevitably happens, that you get over. But lots of people don’t.”Fifteen of this season’s deaths involved children. The vast majority were senior citizens.A total of 1,088 deaths occurred in the San Antonio region, an area encompassing 28 counties, between Oct. 1 and June 20, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported. That’s a flu-related death rate of 35.86 per 100,000 people.More than 800 of those deaths occurred in Bexar County alone, according to surveillance data gathered by San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District. That data showed 802 adults and two children have died in Bexar County from the flu or related complications since Oct. 1, Metro Health spokeswoman Carol Schliesinger said Wednesday. Those numbers are provisional and subject to change, she said.Statewide, Texas’ flu-related death rate this season was 32.25 per every 100,000 people. That’s up from the 2016-2017 rate of 25.90 and the 2015-2016 rate of 18.47.The Central Texas region that includes Austin and Waco recorded 1,146 deaths in the 2017-2018 season, and more than 2,150 occurred in the Houston region. The region that includes Dallas had the most deaths at 2,737.Dr. Luis Ostrosky, an infectious diseases professor at McGovern Medical School at UT Health, attributed the severity of the season to a peak period that lasted 10 weeks, far longer than is typical; a less-than-optimal vaccine match; low vaccination rates; and two circulating flu strains, including the virulent H3N2 strain.“It was a perfect storm,” Ostrosky said. “In addition to the deaths, we also saw more flu-related hospitalizations this year.”The numbers are compiled from death certificates in which a doctor or medical examiner clicked the box for flu and pneumonia, a condition often caused by severe flu cases. The numbers reflect both overcounting and undercounting, since not all winter pneumonia cases originate with the flu and some doctors don’t check the cause of death box.Dr. Hana El Sahly, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, said the percentage of 2017-2018 flu and pneumonia deaths in Texas and nationally is higher than the five previous reported seasons.“Judging by the number of deaths in children, the percentage of deaths due to pneumonia and influenza in adults and the overall number of cases, 2017-2018 has been a particularly intense influenza epidemic season,” El Sahly said.The latest U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows nearly 143,000 people, including 172 children, died from the flu and pneumonia in 2017-2018 through mid-May. The Texas numbers go through the end of May, the traditional end of the flu season.The CDC said the 172 pediatric deaths is a record for a non-pandemic year. The last pandemic was spring 2009-fall 2010, when a total of 358 children died from the flu.Texas posted the most pediatric deaths those years, too — 27 in 2008-2009 and 33 in 2009-2010. Twenty children died in both 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 and 19 died in 2014-2015.Dr. Michael Chang, an infectious diseases expert at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, said the CDC report shows that 80 percent of the children who died nationally were “unimmunized or underimmunized.” Half of the deceased were children who had an underlying condition.“This year shows the need to be immunized,” said Chang. “These are people at high risk.”About 60 percent of Texas children get vaccinated for the flu, said Chang, which ranks in the middle among states. Texas’ overall flu vaccination rate, including adults, is 43 percent, which ranks in the bottom third.Staff Writer Peggy O’Hare contributed to this report from San Antonio. | todd.ackerman@chron.com | twitter.com/chronmed

In what was considered the worst season in years, the flu and related complications killed nearly 10,000 Texans in 2017-2018, according to state health officials.The 9,470 deaths represent a spike of nearly 27 percent from the 7,459 deaths in the 2016-2017 season, and an increase of nearly 82 percent over the 5,215 deaths in 2015-2016, the only previous years when overall deaths were tracked.The latest figures are likely not all-time highs, considering many past seasons were marked by similarly high hospitalization rates and more pediatric deaths.“These death totals are a reminder of the...

Flu killed nearly 10,000 Texans in 2017-2018

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