United States: WastewaterScan data from Stanford University tracked influenza B viral levels across most of the region on Tuesday morning.
The data regarding California’s poor flu situation this year does not surprise local infectious disease experts since they reported the state faced one of its most severe flu waves of the century during February.
As per Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, “We had a really terrible flu season this year,” SFGATE reported.
SFGATE reported that California experienced flu rates of 27.8% two months ago when the national rate reached 31.6%.
Virus that causes polio-like illness found in Bay Area as influenza cases spike. Click the image for more info. https://t.co/khEJ2o5iZZ
— Sonoma Index-Tribune (@sonomanews) April 24, 2025
Flu Rates and Recent Trends
The data from the California Department of Public Health demonstrates that flu rates have decreased since February, although the disease continues to spread at high levels.
“There’s no doubt there’s a lot of respiratory viruses,” as per Gandhi.
WastewaterScan reports that the Bay Area experiences circulation of EV-D68 together with other viruses.
The evaluation shows this virus causes minimal illness in adults yet enables more severe enduring medical complications in young people and children if left without proper care.
Virus that causes polio-like illness found in Bay Area as influenza cases spike pic.twitter.com/w88Cqc8w0a
— Brett Murphy (@brettmurphyx) April 23, 2025
History of Enterovirus-D68
Enterovirus-D68 was first discovered in California in 1962, and its worldwide spread started in the late summer and early fall, according to the University of Minnesota article published in 2023, as SFGATE reported.
The 2016 Journal of Medical Virology article demonstrates that the illness rates in the United States reached 1,153 infections across 49 states in 2014.
The recorded number of infections stood as the biggest count to date at this point in time.