Despite the flu season finally winding down and overall cases declining, the CDC reports that infections of the less common “Influenza B” strain are on the rise, surpassing “Influenza A” in their most recent weekly Influenza Surveillance Report. This season’s strains are a mixture of the H3N2 and H1N1 “A” strains and the now-resurgent “B” strain, which can be particularly severe on young children.

The March 23 release shows that cases of the B-strain comprised nearly 60% of new cases across the country – as reported during the week of March 17.

“We know that illness associated with influenza B can be just as severe as illness associated with influenza A,” said CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund via CNN. “We also know that influenza B tends to be more severe for younger children.”

This year there have been 26,694 hospitalizations for flu-related symptoms, nearly 80% of which have been Influenza A – however the late-season resurgence of Influenza B should be of particular concern to parents of younger children as well as caretakers.

“We often see a wave of influenza B during seasons when influenza A H3N2 was the predominant virus earlier in the season. Unfortunately, we don’t know what the influenza B wave will look like,” said Norland, who adds that it’s possible to get sick with multiple strains of the flu within the same season.

133 children have died so far from flu-related illnesses during the 2017-2018 season. Among adults, 7.8% of deaths reported for the week were flu related – noting a two week delay in the data. The CDC had estimated a threshold of 7.4%.

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