Jan 11, 2026
After a record week of flu activity in the US, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise. About 40,000 people were admitted to the hospital with flu during the week ending January 3, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 10% more than the 36,600 hospitalizations in the week before. Overall, the CDC estimates that there have been at least 15 million illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations and 7,400 deaths from flu this season. Flu activity “remains elevated across the country,” and the CDC says it expects that to continue for several more weeks. More than a dozen states have flu activity levels in the highest category that the agency tracks. CDC surveillance data published last week showed that flu-like activity in the US had reached the highest level on record since the agency started tracking about 30 years ago.
Jan 8, 2026
We're in the thick of the flu season, and it seems we all know someone who is sick these days. CBS News New York's Jenna DeAngelis reports.
Jan 8, 2026 Forbes Newsroom
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported an estimated 11 million cases of influenza so far this winter--a rate of illness that has led to an estimated 5,000 deaths. Forbes senior editor Alex Knapp joined colleague Maggie McGrath to explain why this year's flu is so contagious and how vaccine skepticism is affecting flu shot adoption.
Respiratory virus activity across the United States has climbed to high levels, driven by increases in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) weekly respiratory illness update. Meanwhile, COVID-19 levels remain relatively low but show signs of an uptick.
Influenza is everywhere right now.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of the country is reporting high or very high flu activity. Flu cases are also expected to continue climbing, meaning even more people will contract the virus.
“Numbers of emergency department visits, outpatient visits, hospitalizations are all on the increase, and it looks like this is mostly driven by numbers in children,” Dr. Robert Hopkins, the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said. Younger adults with the flu are next, but Hopkins said he suspects cases among older adults will soon make up a larger share of the data.
South Carolina’s measles outbreak exploded with nearly 100 new cases as it became the worst active measles outbreak in the country and has now spread outside the state’s borders.
The S.C. Department of Public Health reported Jan. 9 that the outbreak now has infected 310 people, not counting four children in North Carolina who also have been infected after visiting the outbreak’s epicenter in Spartanburg County. In South Carolina, 200 people are in quarantine and nine are in isolation.
Jan 6, 2026
Health officials say the number of hospitalizations and deaths are likely to rise. More than 1500 have been hospitalized as a result.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The nation’s second-largest measles outbreak in 2025 hasn’t slowed down entering the new year, now totaling 337 in the region around the border communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.
Total confirmed cases are now at 337 in an area that includes five southwest Utah counties (Kane, Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Washington) and Mohave County, Arizona. 8 News Now reported on Dec. 23 a total of 296 confirmed measles cases in the region, and the count has continued to grow by about 20 per week since late October.
1/6/2026
In a major departure from past practice, the CDC is scaling back the number of recommended vaccines for children. The new schedule recommends that flu and COVID vaccines only be given after consulting with a healthcare provider and narrows recommendations for hepatitis A and B, RSV and bacterial meningitis to what it considers higher risk groups. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Dr. Sean O’Leary.
The U.S. is dropping universal recommendations for certain childhood vaccines, the Trump administration said Monday, in a dramatic overhaul of the immunization schedule that recommends fewer shots and marks a major policy shift under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dec 31, 2025
The CDC says a spike in flu cases is driven by a new variant. It comes as vaccination rates remain low.
WASHINGTON — Flu is rising rapidly across the U.S., driven by a new variant of the virus — and cases are expected to keep growing as holiday travel plays out.
That variant, known as “subclade K,” led to early outbreaks in the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported high or very high levels of illness in more than half of the states.
The CDC estimated there have been at least 7.5 million illnesses in the U.S., 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from flu so far this season. That includes at least eight child deaths, and is based on data as of Dec. 20, prior to major holiday gatherings.
Jan 2, 2026
We are entering peak flu season, and a new variant known as subclade k is spreading quickly across the country, driving a sharp rise in illness and hospitalizations. Public health officials say this current wave may last for weeks to come. William Brangham discussed the variant and what to look out for this flu season with Dr. Andrew Pekosz of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Phesi’s report of the world’s most-studied diseases has become a holiday tradition, and this year’s list features few surprises. Breast cancer took the top spot for the fifth year in a row, and the rest of the top five were unchanged from 2024.
Following breast cancer are solid tumors, stroke, prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, Phesi announced on Dec. 30. Obesity ranked sixth, just barely missing out on a top-five spot.
The clinical data company came up with its list by analyzing 65,892 recruiting trials. That breast cancer held the top spot again was no surprise to Gen Li, Ph.D., Phesi’s president and founder.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, and is a “dire disease” with many different subtypes, Li said. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) also had a high rate of phase 2 trial terminations, he added, another focus of Phesi’s report.
Dec 29, 2025
Medical Correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton explains what’s driving the flu surge, how children are being affected this season and what treatments work best if you get sick.
Cases of influenza in the United States are rising, driven by a new strain that public health officials worry current vaccines may not protect against as effectively.
Health officials and researchers say that although the flu season has not reached its peak, the spike in cases is not historically unusual — and they stress vaccines probably still offer protection against the worst effects of the strain.
A new version of the flu virus is now driving most infections this season, and cases continue to rise across the United States.
The strain, known as H3N2 subclade K, has quickly become the dominant form of flu detected in testing and is slightly different from the virus targeted by this year’s flu vaccine.
Health officials are warning about a surge in so-called “super flu” cases as a particularly aggressive strain drives higher-than-usual hospitalizations this season. Patients are reporting intense symptoms that can escalate quickly, especially among older adults, young children, and those with weakened immune systems.
South Carolina health officials announced nine new measles cases today in an Upstate outbreak, bringing the outbreak total to 153 and the statewide total to 156 for the year.
“Five of the new cases were known household exposures, two resulted from a previously reported school exposure, the source of one is unknown and one is still being investigated,” officials said in a press release. “There are currently 249 people in quarantine and seven in isolation.”
Cases of the flu are rising across the country with some states getting hit harder than others.
The nationwide hospitalization rate jumped by 14.3% with over 9,900 people admitted with the flu, according to data released on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The number of measles cases in Quebec is growing as an outbreak is underway.
On the morning of Dec. 19, eight cases were confirmed in the Lanaudière region, the Laurentians, Laval, Que., and Montreal, according to the provincial government.
On Sunday morning, Dr. Antonio D'Angelo, the head of the pediatric emergency department at CHU Sainte-Justine, told Radio-Canada there had been two confirmed cases at his Montreal hospital over the past week.
''We are expecting more cases," Dr. D'Angelo said.
Most people in the country know someone who currently has, or just had, the flu.
Flu season arrives with the holidays, as parties and travel kick into high gear and colder weather sets in across many states. Like last year, though, this flu season is shaping up to be a bad one. While levels aren’t at a peak right now, certain regions are currently getting hit hard (and cases are rising overall).
Pennsylvania this year confirmed 16 cases of measles, including in Cumberland County. State health officials are monitoring the situation amid outbreaks in other states.
Dec. 17, 2025, 7:41 PM ESTBy Erika Edwards
As measles continues to spread in the United States, it’s likely that the outbreaks that broke records in 2025 will continue into the new year.
In South Carolina, 168 people, mostly schoolchildren, are in quarantine. Most of the state's 138 cases confirmed since September, nearly all in unvaccinated people, have been centered in Spartanburg County in the northwestern part of the state.
Measles is a highly contagious virus. Two doses of the MMR vaccine provide the best protection.
Find the latest numbers of confirmed U.S. measles cases. CDC updates this page weekly.
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/index.html
HOUSTON, Texas – Houston-area health officials are raising concerns over a significant increase in whooping cough cases, also known as pertussis, across Texas.
According to state data, Texas has reported more than 3,500 pertussis cases so far this year, a sharp jump from just 340 cases in 2023. The Houston Health Department says those numbers could continue to climb as families gather and travel during the holiday season.
A new version of the common flu is spreading globally, and health officials are monitoring this evolving strain of influenza A(H3N3) Subclade K, which has been increasingly detected worldwide.
Seasonal influenza activity has increased globally in recent months, with influenza A viruses accounting for the majority of detections, according to the World Health Organization.
CDC • MMR vaccine is very effective at protecting people against measles, mumps, and rubella, and preventing the complications caused by these diseases.
The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials said Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, 111 measles cases had been reported in what’s known as upstate South Carolina — an area in the northwest of the state that includes Greenville and Spartanburg.
“We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said during a news briefing Wednesday.
A measles outbreak that began in South Carolina at the start of October is showing no signs of slowing as officials on Tuesday reported 27 new cases since Friday. Those cases bring the outbreak total to 111.
The southern state’s outbreak now rivals outbreaks ongoing in Utah and Arizona, which have tallied 115 and 176 cases, respectively. The outbreaks are threatening to cost the country its measles elimination status, which was earned in 2000 after vaccination efforts stopped the virus from spreading continuously. If the current transmission of the virus isn’t halted by January, the virus will have circulated for 12 consecutive months, marking it once again as an endemic disease in the US.
Health authorities in the United Kingdomconfirmed on December 8, 2025, that they had detected a so-called "recombinant" version of the mpox virus in a male patient.
A virus becomes a recombinant virus when two existing versions of it recombine — by mixing their genetic information — to form a new, hybrid version. This can happen when different types of a virus infect a person at the same time.
The UK's national health security agency, UKHSA, said the recombinant mpox virus was detected in a man who had recently returned to the UK from Asia.