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(Des Moines, IA) -- Today is back-to-school after the holiday break. While families and friends were gathering for the holidays, they were also spreading the flu bug. Cases are rising faster and earlier this year.
The new Iowa Department of Health report released late last week shows a very high level of influenza cases, already as high as last year’s peak and higher than two years ago, and arriving a month or more sooner. The flu season usually peaks in February or early March.
There is a new mutated strain of flu this year: H3N2 subclade K, which the CDC says is highly contagious. Symptoms include high fever, body aches, sore throat, and fatigue.