Health officials: Worst of flu season may be over

February 8, 2013 by Mike Stobbe in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week. By some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks. Deaths from the flu or pneumonia have been dropping for two weeks.

The released the latest flu numbers on Friday.

This started about a month earlier than normal. Outbreaks began in the late fall, and the dominant is one that tends to make people sicker.

It's been nine years since a flu season started like this one, and that proved to be one of the deadliest. So far, this season has been labeled moderately severe.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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