US Flu ED Visits Surge, COVID Wastewater Rises, H5N1 Logs First Death

Influenza A (H1N1 2009-like) emergency visits have surged in the US, with flu reaching 8.4% of emergency department visits in Oregon in late December, about triple the same-season peak a year earlier. This season's vaccine is trivalent, and the 2024 southern hemisphere season showed only 35% protection against hospitalisation in high-risk groups, down from 50% in 2023. COVID-19, driven mainly by the XEC variant with LP.18.1 at about one-tenth, has risen from medium to high in wastewater surveillance, while H5N1 has caused about 66 US cases including the first death, in Louisiana, with no evidence of human-to-human transmission.