Plus, the importance of testing and treating during this historically bad flu season
By Rachel Nania, AARP Published February 24, 2025
If it seems like everyone around you is getting sick this winter, you’re not wrong.
The U.S. is having one of the worst flu seasons in years, with most states reporting high or very high levels of flu activity. Tens of thousands of patients are filing into hospitals each week, the latest federal data shows, and so far, 16,000 people in the U.S. have died from the flu this season. At the same time, other bugs, such as RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), COVID-19 and norovirus, are also swirling about and sickening the masses.
Steven Furr, M.D., a family physician in Jackson, Alabama, and board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians, says a few factors are feeding the worrying influenza trends this year. “One, this is just a tough flu strain that’s going around right now,” Furr says. “Typically, there are two flu strains we deal with, influenza A and influenza B. Influenza B tends to be a milder strain, whereas influenza A tends to be much more severe. And essentially, every case we’re seeing this year is influenza A.”
Another contributor: Flu vaccination rates are low this year compared to previous years. As of Feb. 8, less than half of the U.S. adult population (45 percent) has received a flu shot this season, and roughly the same share of children (45.9 percent) has been vaccinated for influenza, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows. “So that really hurts when the number of people who are immunized is much less,” Furr says.
Making matters worse, Furr says, is that doctors are seeing more cases of pneumonia following the flu. (Influenza can cause damage to the lining of the lungs, Furr explains, leaving you more susceptible to other infections that can morph into pneumonia.) In some instances, the subsequent pneumonias are resistant to antibiotics, making them especially difficult to treat.
Preventing the flu: It’s not too late
If you skipped your flu shot this fall, doctors say it’s not too late to get one now. “Usually, you’ll get some protection within a week to 10 days, and we’re not through the flu season yet,” Furr says.
While flu activity tends to peak in February, cases can continue through March and April. “In fact, we’ve seen some years where it actually goes to the summer months,” Furr says.
Another reason to get the vaccine if you haven’t already: While influenza A is pummeling the country now, sometimes influenza B “starts showing up later in the season,” Furr says. And it’s possible — albeit unlucky — to get infected with both strains during the same flu season. “So really, if you haven’t been vaccinated, you ought to do so,” Furr adds.
Adults 50 and older are also eligible for a pneumococcal vaccine, which can help prevent a common type of pneumonia. This vaccine can be administered at any time during the calendar year.
Feeling sick? It’s important to test and treat
If you start experiencing symptoms of the flu — fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, fatigue and more — it’s important to get tested to confirm that what ails you is, indeed, influenza. Symptoms of other respiratory illnesses, such as COVID-19 and RSV, can sometimes mimic the flu.
Furr says a sure sign of flu is the rapid onset of symptoms. “Most people who get the flu will tell you, ‘I was fine at 11:51 a.m., but I felt really bad at 11:52 a.m.’ I mean, you can just almost point to the time that you suddenly get those severe body aches, then you start getting the fever,” he says.
You can get a flu test at your doctor’s office or use a combination COVID-19/flu test, sold over the counter at most drugstores. If you’re positive for flu A or B, your doctor can prescribe antiviral medication that can help keep your symptoms from becoming severe — and the medicine works best when started immediately. (There are also antiviral treatments for COVID-19 if it turns out your infection is caused by the coronavirus.)
“Antivirals interfere with the virus and decrease the level of the virus in a person’s body, and thereby decrease complications, decrease symptoms, get you better faster, and in some cases, [they] even prevent death,” Amesh Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, explained in a recent media briefing with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).
Antiviral treatment is especially important for older adults, who are more likely to get seriously ill from an influenza infection, says William Schaffner, M.D., a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Between 50 and 70 percent of flu-related hospitalizations occur in adults 65 and older, CDC data shows, and 70 to 85 percent of flu-related deaths happen in this age group.
“As we get older and physically age, our immune systems also aren’t quite as robust as they were when we were younger, and so our immune systems are less able to fight off these infections,” Schaffner said during the NFID briefing. “As a consequence, older people are more likely to be hospitalized, admitted to the intensive care unit, and, frankly, die of these infections. We would like to do as much as we can to prevent that progression of illness.”
Taking an antiviral early on in the course of an influenza infection may also reduce your risk of developing a secondary infection, like pneumonia. That’s because antivirals help keep your immune system in fighting shape so it’s better able to mount a defense against other infections that are trying to take hold, Adalja explains.
“When you have influenza, it’s kind of a battle between the virus and your immune system. And a lot of the defense systems go into overdrive fighting influenza, and that puts you at risk for developing bacterial pneumonia because you are paralyzed fighting influenza,” Adalja says.
“Year in and year out, the data would indicate that taking an antiviral as early as possible does reduce the severity of illness and keep you out of the hospital and the intensive care unit,” Schaffner says. “And often when it comes to influenza, the secondary bacterial infections that cause the more severe cases of pneumonia, that’s what puts you into the intensive care unit.”
A few other tips to help stay healthy this flu season: Avoid people who are sick, cover your coughs and sneezes, and wash your hands and frequently touched surfaces often, the CDC says.
Rachel Nania is an award-winning health editor and writer at AARP.org, who covers a range of topics including diseases and treatments.
