Peak of flu season could be around the corner

Flu cases are being reported across the country, and experts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine expect to see numbers continue to rise, according to the winter issue of the Hopkins on Alert newsletter published by the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response. Flu season typically reaches its peak between December and March.

The flu vaccine is one of the best ways to prevent the flu, and experts recommend that everyone 6 months and older get the flu vaccine every year.

All Johns Hopkins employees, trainees, postdocs, medical students, and faculty members who have direct patient contact or work in a patient care area are required to get an annual flu vaccination. This season, Johns Hopkins is not offering the live attenuated virus nasal spray vaccine to employees or patients, and it was not accepted as evidence of complying with the influenza vaccination policy. This decision is based on a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that FluMist should not be used this season because of its low effectiveness in the past two flu seasons.

Go to the CEPAR website for more stories from the Hopkins on Alert newsletter, where this article first appeared.