The flu is inflicting more fever-coughing-aching misery across Houston and much of the U.S. than it has in years.
While most people will recover, thousands have already died during the 2024-2025 flu season, federal and state data released Friday show. In our corner of Texas, more than 900 people have died so far from pneumonia and influenza-related causes in the 16-county region that includes Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Chambers and Galveston counties.
A child in Harris County is among those deaths, county health officials told Houston Landing. The child, who is not being identified, also had other health complications at the time they died in January.
“We all know someone who’s had flu this season,” said Dr. Ericka Brown, local health authority with Harris County Public Health. “For most people, it will run its course. You’ll feel terrible for seven to 10 days, maybe 14 days.”
“Unfortunately, though, we can never tell those who it will affect more severely, and we are seeing increased hospitalizations,” Brown said.
The current flu season is also happening amid what experts consider the worrying spread of a type of H5N1 avian influenza virus to new species of animals and a small number of humans.
Although health authorities continue to say the risk from H5N1 to the general public remains low, the virus has shown greater ability to infect and sicken a wider range of mammals, including dairy cattle and cats. This is raising concerns that H5N1 could possibly become a pandemic virus for humans.
Nearly 70 human cases of H5N1 influenza have been reported across the U.S during the past year, with one of the first cases identified last year in Texas. On Friday, Wyoming health officials announced they had identified that state’s first human case of H5N1 influenza in an older woman who remains hospitalized.
Here’s what experts say you need to know about the current flu season and how to stay healthy.
Many people are getting sick with flu in Houston right now
Dr. Janeana White, deputy local health authority for Houston Health Department, said the amount of flu illness in the area appears to be high, but stable. Cases don’t appear to be going up or going down, White said.
“Our number of flu health care visits have been stable for about the past five weeks,” she said. “But in comparison to our numbers from last year, they are higher than this time last year.”
Wastewater testing in Houston indicates that seasonal Influenza A is the primary culprit sickening Houstonians, with Influenza B causing a much smaller share of the infections, she said. These are the two types of human seasonal flu viruses that are circulating nationally.
There are more severe cases of flu in Houston, U.S.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. is in what is classified as a “high severity” flu season for the first time since 2017-2018, based on national data and trends.
Not only is there high and very high seasonal flu activity across much of the country, the CDC said the rate of confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations for the week ending Feb. 8 was higher than any peak flu week going back to the flu season of 2010-2011.
It’s an issue that’s playing out in Houston hospitals as well.
“Particularly compared to recent years, there’s been a lot of illness in the community, and we’ve also seen that translate into a number of patients admitted to the hospital with influenza or complications of that, like secondary bacterial pneumonia,” said Dr. Robert Atmar, chief of infectious disease service at Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital and a professor of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.
Flu danger signs: When to see a doctor
Atmar said a typical influenza-like illness is often associated with a fever, which can be high – 102-103 degrees or even higher. The most typical respiratory symptom is a cough and some people may have a sore throat, runny nose, congestion and also muscle aches, headache and fatigue.
It’s also possible to have gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but those are less common for influenza, he said.
“A lot of times the illness will have an abrupt onset. They’ll feel well, and all of a sudden, they’ll say, oh, it felt like a truck hit me at three o’clock yesterday afternoon,” Atmar said. “People who’ve been vaccinated, the onset may be more gradual.”
After the initial illness, he said complications may develop that need prompt medical attention.
Of particular concern is pneumonia, which may be caused by the influenza virus or a secondary bacterial infection. A person may start feeling better and then suddenly develop a new fever or increased fever, and their cough, which was dry, may change to a cough that is bringing up phlegm that is yellow or looks like puss, Atmar said.
Other warning signs to seek medical care, he said, include shortness of breath, developing a pain in their side, or if the person starts feeling ill after getting better.
Houston-area child among thousands of Texas flu deaths
The flu season typically is from October through May, with the worst months often being December through February.
Nationwide, the CDC estimates that since this flu season began last fall there have been at least 29 million illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths. Across the country, 68 children’s deaths have been reported so far.
Five pediatric flu deaths have been reported so far in Texas, according to data released Friday by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The data do not say where these children died, but Harris County health officials told the Landing that one child, who also had other health conditions, died in the county in January. In the city of Houston, there have been no reported pediatric flu deaths so far, White said Friday.
In addition to children, there have been more than 3,700 pneumonia and influenza-related deaths across Texas during this year’s flu season, according to state health department data that draws from death certificates. About 60 percent of these deaths involved people 65 years and older.
A wide range of people are at increased risk from influenza. They include adults 65 and older and children younger than 2, people with weakened immune systems, lung or heart disease, asthma, diabetes, kidney, liver and metabolic disorders.
Vaccines, treatments and healthy habits help reduce flu risks
Nobody wants to get sick and although the influenza virus is spreading throughout the Houston area, health officials said there are steps everyone can take to reduce their risks of getting sick or transmitting the virus to others.
“It is not too late to get a flu shot. And in fact, anyone who has not gotten a flu shot should get a flu shot,” said Brown, the Harris County Public Health official. “It takes two weeks to develop full immunity. Anyone who is six months of age or older should get a flu shot.”
Insurance often covers the full cost of flu vaccination and local health departments also can help connect people with free or reduced cost vaccinations against flu and other diseases. Contact Harris County Public Health at 823-927-7350 or www.hcphtx.org/Vaccines. Flu shots are available at certain City of Houston health centers or by calling 832-395-9100.
Other protective measures include washing hands frequently with soap and water, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer; avoiding close contact with people who are sick, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
Those who start experiencing influenza-like symptoms may also want to consider calling their doctor to ask whether they should be prescribed a course of an antiviral medication, commonly known by the brand name Tamiflu, Atmar said. Particularly when the medication is taken in the first 24 hours of illness, it can decrease the period of fever and symptoms by a day or more, he said. The main side effect of the drug is nausea and vomiting, especially if taken on an empty stomach.
Adults and children who are sick should stay home from school, work and other activities to avoid spreading the virus, public health officials said. The CDC recommends going back to normal activities when the person’s symptoms are getting better and they are fever-free without using a fever-reducing medication.
U.S., Houston health officials monitoring for H5N1 bird flu
In contrast with the millions of people sickened by seasonal flu viruses in the United States in the past year, so far there have been fewer than 70 confirmed human cases caused by the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Yet this H5N1 virus, formally known as avian influenza A(H5N1), is being monitored closely by scientists and public health authorities in Houston and around the world because of a concerning new infections that began to emerge in the United States last year with the virus infecting dairy cattle – and some of the people who worked with them.
On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody wants to go through another one. While the risk to humans remains low, health authorities are concerned that the more the H5N1 virus develops the ability to infect mammals, the greater the potential for it to evolve in ways that allow it to more easily infect humans.
“I think there’s significant concern with the number of mammals that have been infected,” said Atmar. But he notes that it can be difficult for a virus that spreads primarily in animals to gain the ability to easily infect humans – and then also gain the further ability to easily spread from person to person.
“So I don’t think people have to be overly concerned about that happening, but recognize that it is a possibility, and if it occurs, we’re going to have to try to figure out what are the best public health steps and medical steps we can take,” Atmar said.
Some early warning signs of H5N1 began in Texas
The worrying developments began in March 2024 when the H5N1 virus was detected for the first time in dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas. Soon after, some of the first cases of dairy worker infections were reported, with the Texas Department of State Health Services announcing on April 1 that it had identified an infected person who had contact with dairy cattle.
Since then, there have been nearly 70 confirmed cases of people in the U.S. becoming infected with the H5N1 virus. Most of these infections, like the one in Texas, involved mild symptoms, particularly eye redness.
But in December 2024 a person in Louisiana who had exposure to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks was hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1 bird flu. It was the first time the virus had caused severe illness in the U.S., the CDC said. This person died in January, also becoming the first person in the United States to die from an infection with the bird flu virus.
The woman in Wyoming who is currently hospitalized with H5N1 influenza is the third confirmed case in the U.S. that has required hospitalization, health officials said Friday. The woman, who was described as being older and having health conditions that put her at greater risk from influenza infections, was likely exposed through contact with an infected poultry flock at her home, they said.
Severe human illnesses with H5N1 virus have been reported in other countries. In Canada, a 13-year-old girl with a history of mild asthma ended up being placed on life support last fall and receiving daily plasma exchanges after she became infected. She was finally discharged from the hospital in January.
There is no evidence that the virus is spreading from person to person, the CDC says. In most cases, the people who became infected likely were exposed to animals, such as dairy cattle or birds. But in two Missouri cases, an intensive investigation found no known exposure to infected animals, animal products or humans.
Last week, the CDC reported a study involving veterinarians that indicates the H5N1 virus may be spreading to some people from cattle without the people experiencing any symptoms. This means there may be people who have been infected but who have not been identified.
H5N1 bird flu viruses were first identified in 1996
According to the CDC, the history of the H5N1 virus goes back to 1996 when it was first identified in waterfowl in southern China, and by the next year it started causing outbreaks in poultry in China and Hong Kong. The people who cared for sick birds started to become sporadically infected – and the virus had a greater than 50 percent death rate in humans.
After these initial outbreaks, H5N1 viruses weren’t widely detected again until 2003-2005, when they reemerged in Asia and caused significant poultry outbreaks. In the years that followed, other types of avian influenza viruses emerged and became the main viruses circulating globally among wild birds.
But in 2021 a new version of the H5N1 virus emerged and swept across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the CDC’s history says. By late that year it was detected in wild birds in the United States and soon after it started causing outbreaks among commercial poultry facilities and in backyard flocks. There also were occasional detections of the virus in wild mammals in the U.S., such as bobcats, coyotes and skunks, and later seals.
Reports of sporadic infections in mammals continued to occur around the world, and by December 2023, the first cases of H5N1 infections had been identified in the world’s polar regions, with the death of a polar bear in the Arctic and infections of seals in the Antarctic, according to a CDC timeline.
Over the years occasional human H5N1 infections also continued to occur around the world, but none had occurred in the United States until April 2022. That’s when one person in Colorado who had contact with infected poultry tested positive for the virus. Their only symptom was fatigue and they recovered.
There were no other U.S. cases of human H5N1 bird flu infections identified until after the dairy cow outbreaks began in March 2024.
While the people infected with H5N1 in the U.S. have mostly had mild symptoms, the virus has historically had a much higher death rate in other countries when people have occasionally become infected, often through exposure to infected birds.
Since 2003, the World Health Organization has identified more than 950 human cases of H5N1 infections in humans and about half have died.
Experts recommend avoiding exposure to sick birds, raw milk, raw pet food
Health officials emphasized that the risk of H5N1 infection remains low, but there are precautions that can be taken to avoid exposure to the virus. They include avoiding contact with sick and dead animals, especially wild birds and poultry and not drinking raw milk.
Pet owners should avoid feeding animals raw milk and be aware of potential risks from pet foods made with raw or unpasteurized products from cattle and poultry – such as meat, milk and eggs. Appropriate cooking and pasteurization inactivates the virus, health officials said. Cat deaths from H5N1 have been linked to raw pet food.
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