The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently began to release its weekly flu activity reports for the upcoming 2015-2016 flu season in the U.S.
The CDC gathers information about U.S. influenza activity to analyze it for the report, titled FluView. The organization resumes the analysis and report each year for the flu season.
People can find FluView online as a PDF or on the FluView Interactive app. The app enables people to develop and personalize dynamic visuals with the data in the report.
For this 2015-2016 U.S. flu season, the CDC has improved its report by adding information about where and when flu activity happens and when the flu is circulating. The report will also show the effect of the flu in the U.S., such as hospitalizations, illnesses related to the flu, and deaths.
The app has also had several improvements, such as distinguishing between data from clinical laboratories and public health laboratories, showing the age distribution of the flu cases, and offering the lineage data for the influenza B virus. The app also uses the electronic mortality surveillance system from the National Center for Health Statistics, as it offers a better, more accurate estimation of flu deaths.
