Flu-like illness activity now at highest rate on record, new CDC data shows
Stock photo of a sick woman. Guido Mieth/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Flu activity is continuing to climb across the U.S. as hospitalizations rise, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The percent of outpatient visits for respiratory illnesses are now at the highest rate on record.
About 8% of visits to a health care provider were labeled as flu-like illness, surpassing any levels seen since 1997, the earliest for which data is available. Flu-like illness accounts for patients that have a fever as well as a cough and/or sore throat.
These visits are largely among children and young adults. About 35% of outpatient visits for a respiratory illness were among people unde. 24 years old and children under age 5 made up about 20% of those.
The CDC estimates there have been 120,000 hospitalizations so far this season, a 48.1% increase from the prior week.
Additionally, the CDC says there have been at least 11 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths due to flu so far this season, including at least nine pediatric deaths.
In New York, health officials recently reported the highest number of flu hospitalizations recorded in a single week.
“This is really quite a severe flu season right now,” Dr. James McDonald, health commissioner for New York state, told “Good Morning America” on Saturday.
Recently, New York also reported a record-breaking number of flu cases in a single week with 72,133 infections for the week ending Dec. 20, according to health department.
Data shows that the majority of this season’s cases are linked to a new flu strain called subclade K — a variant of the H3N2 virus, which is itself a subtype of influenza A.
Subclade K has been circulating since the summer in other countries and was a main driver of a spike in flu cases in Canada, Japan and the U.K.
Of the 994 flu samples tested since Sept. 30, nearly all were influenza A. Of those samples that underwent further testing roughly 90% were H3N2, CDC data shows.
Experts expect flu-like illnesses to continue to climb in the coming weeks and warn that this season’s peak has likely not been reached yet.
In addition to influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are also circulating this time of year and are contributing to respiratory illness activity.
Currently, the CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, get an annual flu vaccine.
The federal health agency states on its website that getting an annual flu shot prevents millions of illnesses and flu-related doctors’ visits every year and is especially important for those at higher risk of serious complications.
Amid surging cases and hospitalizations, the number of adults and kids who have received a flu shot remains relatively unchanged. As of Dec. 13, around 42.2% of adults and 42.3% of kids have received the flu vaccine despite the flu shot being widely available across the country.
Last season, 289 children died from flu and nearly all were unvaccinated. This was the highest number of deaths ever recorded since tracking pediatric deaths became mandatory in 2004. One additional pediatric death was reported this week from the 2024-2025 flu season to reach the record.
(NEW YORK) — At least 177 new measles cases have been reported in the U.S., according to newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 910 infections have been confirmed in 24 states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this handout from Merck & Co, a box and vial of Gardasil, a new cervical cancer vaccine, is seen is this undated photo. Russell Kirk/Merck & Co. via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A major update to federal women’s health preventive guidance will make it easier for women to get screened for cervical cancer, including a self-collection option that allows some women to test themselves at home instead of going to a doctor for a pelvic exam.
The new option will be covered by private insurance beginning in January 2027.
The updated Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) guidance now advises that people receive a high-risk HPV test – which checks for the virus types most likely to cause cervical cancer – every five years for average-risk women ages 30 to 65 as the preferred screening approach. This can be done with a clinician-collected sample or by the patient at home.
Women in that age group still have other choices: a combination of an HPV and Pap test every five years, or Pap testing alone every three years if HPV testing isn’t available.
“The addition of self-collection really empowers women to make this choice for themselves,” Ann Sheehy, MD, the HRSA’s chief medical officer, told ABC News. “We do retain the option for Pap smear … this is just an additional choice for women.”
For women ages 21 to 29, the recommendations stay the same: Pap tests every three years, which Sheehy said aligns with available evidence.
“By doing this, we’re going to get some of those people that have been falling through the cracks and not getting this testing done in advance,” Tom Engels, administrator of the HRSA, told ABC News. “And by doing that, we’re going to save lives.”
Engels emphasized that the update is meant to expand testing options, not replace the Pap test. Self-collection is intended to remove barriers for women who find in-office screening difficult to schedule, uncomfortable, or hard to access, he stressed.
American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines updated in December, by contrast, recommend that cervical cancer screening should begin at age 25 and centers on primary HPV testing, including self-collection tests.
“The combination of good evidence of the benefits of self-collection, which include increased access to cervical cancer screening, combined with FDA approval, led the ACS and HRSA to include self-collection in their guideline update,” Dr. Robert Smith, senior vice president, Early Cancer Detection Science at the American Cancer Society and author of the organization’s updated guidelines, told ABC News.
Cervical cancer screening is often cited as a major public health success. Over the last 50 years, cervical cancer incidence and deaths have fallen by more than 50% in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society, largely because screening can catch precancerous changes early, before patients notice any symptoms.
When cervical cancer is found early, five-year survival is higher than 90%, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data suggests. But the HSRA guidance notes that more than half of diagnoses happen beyond the earliest stage, after the disease is spread to other areas of the body. In those later stages, five-year survival is only about 20%, according to the CDC.
Wide use of the HPV vaccine is expected to push cervical cancer rates even lower over time, but most of the historical decline happened before widespread vaccination efforts.
Sheehy said she has seen the consequences when screening doesn’t happen, and why early detection matters.
“I’ve seen women who didn’t have access to screening, and their cancer presented at a very late stage,” she said. “Most women who have early-stage cervical cancer or precancer lesions are asymptomatic, and the only way we’re going to detect that is with screening.”
The updated guidance aims to address stubborn gaps despite the decades of progress, she added, pointing out that about half of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have either never been screened or their screening isn’t up to date, and about one in four women in the U.S. are not up to date with screening, according to the CDC.
Only FDA-approved tests are recommended for self-collection. The FDA first expanded approvals in May 2024 to allow patients to self-collect samples in a clinical setting. In May 2025, the FDA approved the first at-home self-collection cervical cancer screening kit.
The at-home option is available by prescription. Exactly how patients access a covered self-collecting test may vary by insurer and plan.
“There’s some FDA tests that are approved for self-collection in an office-based setting and there is one that is available for self-collection at home,” Sheehy noted.
Sheehy and Smith both added that a positive HPV result is not a cancer diagnosis, but it can mean additional testing is necessary.
The updated guidance also aims to reduce costs that can pile up after an abnormal screening result by clarifying what insurers must cover without cost-sharing, including follow-up testing and diagnostic evaluation such as Pap testing, biopsy, and lab work, depending on individual needs.
A separate HRSA guideline that took effect Jan. 1 also requires insurance coverage for patient navigation services that help women schedule screenings, address care challenges, and follow up after abnormal results.
“We know the health care system is incredibly complicated for patients to navigate,” Sheehy said.
Both Engles and Sheehy emphasized how optimistic they are about the potential benefits of expanding access to cervical screening.
“This could be really, really, game-changing for women,” Sheehy said.
Radhika Malhotra, MD, is an internal medicine-preventive medicine resident at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News’ Liz Neporent contributed to this report.
Boxes and vials of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Virus Vaccine at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As measles continues to spread across the U.S., with outbreaks popping up around the country, public health experts have been stressing the importance of getting vaccinated to stop the spread of disease.
This has involved local doctors and health department workers going into outbreak areas to offer the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The MMR vaccine is typically a two-dose series given first at 12-15 months old and again at 4-6 years of age. An extra dose can be given as early 6 months old in high-risk circumstances, including during a measles outbreak.
Health experts working in and near measles outbreaks told ABC News that vaccine acceptance has been mixed among these communities, with some people begging to get their kids vaccinated early, while others still refuse an immunization.
“[Measles] can spread so quickly amongst that unvaccinated population,” Dr. Christopher Lombardozzi, chief medical officer at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, told ABC News. “And if the number of people who remain unvaccinated stays large, then we could have a real problem, not just this year, but in years to come.”
Vaccine hesitancy in outbreak areas
The upstate region of South Carolina is experiencing a surge in measles cases amid the ongoing outbreak.
The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) reported 223 new cases over the last week, bringing the total number of cases in the outbreak to 434 since October, with over 400 people currently in quarantine due to exposure. Spartanburg County, which borders North Carolina, is currently the epicenter of the outbreak.
A spokesperson for Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System told ABC News that, as of Jan. 9, there have been 77 confirmed measles cases across the system since the outbreak began.
Lombardozzi said the health care system has seen some increased vaccine uptake, but not as much as they hoped for.
“We certainly have had some more uptake of vaccine in the last six months or so, since the outbreak started here in South Carolina, and I’m happy for that,” Lombardozzi said. “I would love to see a higher uptake. There is still quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy around here, and I think it’s unwarranted.”
Lombardozzi added that addressing vaccine hesitancy takes time and support.
“We try to support people, meet them where they are, and hopefully they will change their mind if they’ve been vaccine hesitant for a while,” he said.
Lombardozzi worries that without increasing immunizations, the negative effects could ripple for years.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist and health program branch director for the South Carolina DPH, said the lack of vaccine acceptance amid the growing outbreak has been “disappointing.”
Bell said vaccines could have helped prevent a majority of cases, adding, “We have an opportunity to prevent further cases, if people can adopt these available tools and help us stop this outbreak sooner rather than later.”
As of Tuesday, another ongoing outbreak in Utah surpassed 200 measles cases since it began in June of last year. The southwest region of Utah has reported 147 of those cases, which equates to a rate of 25.8 cases per 100,000 people in that region.
David Heaton, public information officer at the Southwest Utah Department of Public Health, told ABC News that cases in southwest Utah and further north have been linked to the same measles virus that spread in Texas and New Mexico last year.
Heaton worries that measles will soon be declared endemic again, ending the decades-long elimination status in the U.S.
“That’s kind of a discouraging threshold that we’re getting closer to. I think [the loss of elimination status] could be recovered, but it could take a couple of years at least,” Heaton said.
In the Southwest region, vaccine acceptance has been highest among people who were on the fence or those who accidentally missed vaccines, but those with strong beliefs against vaccines have been “fairly immovable,” Heaton added.
“We’re just seeing the attitude of, ‘I choose not to get vaccinated. I don’t agree with vaccinations, and I’m not going to do it. I don’t feel the risk is high enough to get the vaccine,'” he said.
Some success in vaccine uptake
But there have been examples of success. Last year, during a large outbreak from February to September, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reported that MMR doses administered were nearly 50% higher than the year prior by October.
The largest gains were due to adult vaccination that increased by about 230% in October 2025 compared to October 2024. Children receiving the MMR shot only increased by about 10% compared to that time the previous year.
Andrea Romero, immunization program section manager at NMDOH, told ABC News communication was key during the outbreak. Romero said most of the adults who got vaccinated did so because they were unsure of their vaccination status and felt a strong sense of duty to get the shot, not just to protect themselves but to protect their community.
“When they know that they’re making a difference, it matters,” Romero said. “Every time I take that opportunity [to say], ‘Thank you for being a great community and your response, caring about yourself, your family, your neighbor,’ but it means a lot because it’s their efforts. It was their response that made the difference.”
NMDOH data shared with ABC News shows that 384 children with a vaccine exemption on file received at least one MMR shot between Jan. 13, 2025 and Jan. 13, 2026. This suggests parents of these children changed their minds about the vaccine around the time of New Mexico’s measles outbreak, according to health department officials.
During that same timeframe, at least one MMR dose was the only immunization on record for 189 children in the state, the data shows.
Fears of further measles spread
Doctors near outbreak regions are also experiencing the effects of fears and questions about measles and vaccination from their community.
Dr. Deborah Greenhouse, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and pediatrician in South Carolina, told ABC News that her community hasn’t had a measles case yet, but parents and healthcare providers are increasingly concerned.
“As we all know, and as my patients know, measles virus does not respect county borders, so, as the numbers continue to rise, the likelihood that we start seeing cases here in the midlands of South Carolina increases dramatically,” Greenhouse said.
On Tuesday, health officials announced there was a measles exposure on Jan. 2 in the midlands region at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia.
“If more families decline the vaccines, our vaccination rates drop and we become an open target, essentially a sitting duck for an outbreak, much like the Spartanburg area,” Greenhouse said.
In her experience, building a foundation of trust has been essential for vaccine acceptance.
“They know me, they trust me,” Greenhouse said. “They know that as a pediatrician, I have no interest here other than protecting the best interests of their children and their family.”
She went on, “Families that I’ve known for years, who I have a very strong relationship with, are coming in and asking for every vaccine that they can get, and asking to get the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine early, because they’re very concerned about their children being exposed to measles and not being protected.”
Greenhouse said trying to build trust among families has been particularly challenging amid changing guidance from federal health agencies and widespread misinformation.
“Unfortunately, some of the awful sources right now are people that you used to think you could trust and, as a new parent, I totally understand why it would be incredibly difficult to be able to figure out right now,” Greenhouse said.
Despite changing guidance and misinformation, doctors say the science hasn’t changed, and vaccines remain safe and effective.
“Amongst the medical community, you’re not going to get much disagreement that the vaccines are safe and that they’re effective,” Lombardozzi said. “The message is, go get your kids their shots if it’s time to get their shots. We certainly encourage folks to go talk to your pediatrician, go talk to your doctor.”
Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is a practicing physician, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, and is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
