Flu cases down in some areas; child deaths up 47 states report
widespread activity The spread of the flu across the United
States appears to have slowed in some areas, but officials won't
know for weeks whether the cases have peaked, the CDC director
said Friday. Twenty-four states and New York City were reporting
high levels of flu activity, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's flu advisory report for
December 30 through January 5. That's down from 29 states the
previous week, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC.
However, "The only area of the country that's still relatively
unaffected ... is the far West Coast," although plenty of cases
have been reported there, Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the
Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the CDC's Influenza
Division, said Friday. The number of pediatric deaths associated
with influenza rose by two, according to the CDC. There have
been 20 deaths of people under the age of 18 since the flu
outbreak began. While the CDC does not cou