Lakewood, NJ – CDC: NJ Ahead of NY, Pa. and Conn. in Flu Activity

Lakewood, NJ – New Jersey is experiencing wide spread flu activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The influenza like illness data posted for week 8 — Feb. 20 through 26 — shows New Jersey ahead of New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut in flu activity, the CDC reports.

State Department of Health and Senior Services is reporting school absenteeism for week eight averaged at 6.73 percent an increase of less than a percent from the previous week.

The numbers from the health department and CDC are not a true representation of all flu activity but are a good representation of the overall picture, said Leslie Terjesen, public information officer for Ocean County Health Department. The data includes only information from facilities that report to the health departments, Terjesen said.

“The U.S. 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine will protect against an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus, and the 2009 H1N1 virus that emerged last year to cause the first global pandemic in more than 40 years and resulted in substantial illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” according to the CDC website.

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