A/H1N1 flu was widespread in only 11 U.S. states during the week of Dec. 6-12, down from 14 in the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday.
"Eleven states reported geographically widespread influenza activity, 20 states reported regional influenza activity, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 11 states reported local influenza activity, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight states reported sporadic influenza activity, and Guam reported no influenza activity," the CDC said on its website.
In late October, 48 U.S. states were reporting widespread cases of A/H1N1 flu activity. But since then, there has been a decline across the country.
Meanwhile, "visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally decreased slightly this week over last week," the CDC said in its latest report, adding that it is the seventh consecutive week of national decreases in ILI after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases in October.
While ILI has declined, the CDC pointed out that visits to doctors for influenza-like illness remain slightly higher than the national baseline.
"Nationwide during week 49 (ending on Dec. 12), 2.6 percent of patient visits reported through the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) were due to influenza-like illness (ILI)," the CDC said, adding that the national baseline, according to data from the previous years, is 2.3 percent.
As the current wave of A/H1N1 flu continues to wane, U.S. health officials on Thursday urged that everyone get vaccinated in case another outbreak strikes this winter.
"Our message is, take advantage of the increased supply and get vaccinated as soon as you can," Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, told a press conference on Thursday morning.
Anyone who wants to be vaccinated can get that, Sebelius said, since the vaccine is no longer reserved for just those at high risk for catching the flu.
"By the end of this week, we will have 100 million doses of H1N1 vaccine available to the people. In fact, we're at 99.5 million doses today," said Sebelius while briefing reporters on the A/H1N1 pandemic.